















         TM
   UniVBE   5.1


   User's Guide






















                                                             SciTech Software
                                                    5 Governors Lane, Suite D
                                                          Chico, CA 95926 USA

                                                Orders only :   : 800-4UNIVBE
                                                               : 800-486-4823
                                          Main & Tech Support: : 916-894-8400
                                                    FAX        : 510-208-8026







   Copyrights & Trademarks

   O Copyright 1993-1995 SciTech Software. All Rights Reserved.

   The product names UniVBE and UniPower are trademarks of SciTech  Software.
   All  other  trademarks  used  in  this  documentation  are  trademarks  or
   registered trademarks of their respective holders.



   Memberships and Affiliations

   SciTech is an active participant of the following industry groups:
    ACCESS.bus Industry Group
    Computer Game Developers Association
    The GamePC Consortium
    The Video Electronics Standards Association
    The US Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star Computers Program.




   UniVBE was written with Borland C++ and Borland Turbo Assembler, and  this
   manual was produced using Microsoft Word for Windows.

   Developed in Australia. Produced and printed in the United States.






























                                                                            i






   Software License Agreement



   READ THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF  THIS LICENSE AGREEMENT CAREFULLY  BEFORE
   USING OR  DISTRIBUTING  SCITECH  SOFTWARE'S  DOCUMENTATION,  SOFTWARE  AND
   ADDITIONAL MATERIALS  (THE  _PRODUCT_).  THE PRODUCT  IS  COPYRIGHTED  AND
   LICENSED (NOT SOLD) TO YOU AND  BY USING OR DISTRIBUTING THE PRODUCT,  YOU
   ARE ACCEPTING AND AGREEING TO THE TERMS OF THIS LICENSE AGREEMENT. IF  YOU
   ARE NOT WILLING TO BE  BOUND BY THE TERMS  OF THIS LICENSE AGREEMENT,  YOU
   SHOULD  NOT  USE  OR  DISTRIBUTE  THIS  PRODUCT.  THIS  LICENSE  AGREEMENT
   REPRESENTS THE ENTIRE  AGREEMENT CONCERNING  THE PRODUCT  BETWEEN YOU  AND
   SCITECH SOFTWARE (REFERRED TO AS _LICENSOR_), AND IT SUPERSEDES ANY  PRIOR
   PROPOSAL, REPRESENTATION, OR UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THE PARTIES.
   1.   EVALUATION PERIOD.  You may use  a Shareware Copy of the Product  for
   an evaluation period of up to 21  days, in order to determine whether  the
   Product meets your needs before purchasing it.  Once the evaluation period
   ends, you agree to either purchase a Registered Copy of the Product, or to
   stop using it.  If you have ordered a Registered Copy of the Product  from
   us, you may continue to use your Shareware Copy until your Registered Copy
   arrives.
   2.   USE OF THE PRODUCT.   While you are  evaluating the Product, you  may
   use it on as  many computers as are  required to perform your  evaluation.
   Your 21-day evaluation period begins when you first install the Product on
   one or more computers for evaluation purposes. Once the evaluation  period
   is over and you purchase the Product, you may only use the product on  one
   computer at a time. You may install the  product on more than one of  your
   computers as long as there is no possibility of the product being used  at
   the same time on different computers. For multiple system licenses  please
   contact SciTech software for special pricing. You must not (a) defeat,  or
   try to defeat, messages in the Product which encourage users to  register;
   (b) modify or  prepare derivative  works of  the Product;  (c) or  reverse
   engineer, decompile or disassemble the Product
   3.   DISTRIBUTING SHAREWARE COPIES OF THE PRODUCT. You may make copies  of
   your full, unregistered Shareware Copy of  the Product to give to  others,
   however you may  not sell  Shareware Copies of  the Product  for a  profit
   (shareware distribution  companies may  charge their  normal shipping  and
   handling fees).  Please  also  note that  distribution  of  the  Shareware
   Version of UniVBE may  only be through  the normal shareware  distribution
   channels as  a single  package. You  MAY NOT  bundle shareware  copies  of
   UniVBE with your  freeware, shareware  or commercial  products unless  you
   obtain a special Shareware Distribution License from SciTech Software.
   Also, you may not: (a) distribute registered versions of the Product;  (b)
   distribute updates of your product which  may include the Product  without
   using the latest version of the Product, available at ftp.scitechsoft.com;
   (c) ship incomplete versions of the Product; (d) defeat, or try to defeat,
   messages in the Product which encourage  users to register their  software
   or actively discourage user registration in any other way
   4.   COPYING REGISTERED  COPIES  OF  THE PRODUCT.    When  you  receive  a
   Registered Copy of the  Product you may make  copies of the Product  which
   are necessary for normal backup purposes only.  You agree not to make  any
   other copies of the software, the manual(s), or any part of  them, or sell
   or give any copies or registration codes to others.
   5.   LEGAL DISCLAIMER. THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED _AS IS_ WITHOUT  WARRANTY
   OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR  IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED  TO,
   THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES  OF MERCHANTABILITY  AND FITNESS  FOR A  PARTICULAR
   ii




   PURPOSE.  THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE PRODUCT
   IS WITH YOU.  SHOULD THE PRODUCT  PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST  OF
   ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION.
   IN NO  EVENT  WILL SCITECH  SOFTWARE,  OR ANY  OTHER  PARTY WHO  MAY  HAVE
   DISTRIBUTED THE PRODUCT AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR  DAMAGES,
   INCLUDING  ANY  GENERAL,  SPECIAL,  INCIDENTAL  OR  CONSEQUENTIAL  DAMAGES
   ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE PRODUCT (INCLUDING BUT  NOT
   LIMITED TO  LOSS OF  DATA  OR DATA  BEING  RENDERED INACCURATE  OR  LOSSES
   SUSTAINED BY YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR  A FAILURE OF THE PRODUCT TO  OPERATE
   WITH ANY OTHER  PROGRAMS), EVEN  IF SUCH HOLDER  OR OTHER  PARTY HAS  BEEN
   ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
   6.GOVERNING LAW. This license Agreement shall be construed and governed in
   accordance with the laws of the State of California, USA.
   7.Costs of Litigation. If  any action is brought  by either party to  this
   License Agreement against  the other  party regarding  the subject  matter
   hereof, the prevailing party shall be entitled to recover, in addition  to
   any other  relief  granted,  reasonable  attorney  fees  and  expenses  of
   litigation.
   8.SEVERABLILITY. Should any  term of  this License  Agreement be  declared
   void or  unenforceable  by  any  court  of  competent  jurisdiction,  such
   declaration shall have no effect on the remaining terms hereof.
   9.NO WAIVER. The  failure of either  party to enforce  any rights  granted
   hereunder or to take action  against the other party  in the event of  any
   breach hereunder  shall  not  be deemed  a  waiver  by that  party  as  to
   subsequent enforcement of  rights or subsequent  actions in  the event  of
   future breaches.
































                                                                          iii







   Contents




   Copyrights & Trademarks..................................i

   Memberships and Affiliations.............................i

   Software License Agreement...............................ii

   Section 1.:Introduction..................................1
     UniVBE - The Plug & Play Solution .....................1
     Benefits of UniVBE ....................................1
     Why You Should Replace Your Existing VBE Driver .......2
     What's New in this Version? ...........................3
     Hardware Requirements .................................3
     File Descriptions .....................................3
     Getting the Latest Full Version .......................4

   Section 2.:Installation & Setup..........................5
     Installing UniVBE for the First Time ..................5
     What Happens During Installation? .....................9
     Configuring Your Software to Use UniVBE ...............9
     Changing the Settings of UniVBE After Installation ....9
     Changing your Video Card After Installation ...........9
     Registering Your Software .............................10
        Why You Should Register Your Software ..............10
        Instant Registration by Credit Card ................10
        Registration by Mail or FAX ........................10
        Entering Your Registration Code ....................10
        What Happens If You Don't Register? ................10
     Upgrading from Previous Versions ......................11
     Uninstalling or Disabling UniVBE ......................11
        Automatic Uninstall with UNINSTAL.BAT ..............11
        Manual Unistall ....................................11

   Section 3.:Supplemental Utility Programs.................12
     VBETest ...............................................12
        Interactive Visual Compliance Test .................12
        Quick/Full Compliance Tests ........................15
        Enable/Disable UniVBE ..............................15
        VBE/PM Power Management Tests ......................16
     Profile ...............................................17
     UniPower ..............................................19
        Is Your Monitor Compatible with DPMS? ..............19
        UniPower For Windows ...............................19
        UniPower For DOS ...................................19
        Problems with the Standby State ....................20
     UniCenter .............................................21
        Adjusting a video mode .............................22
        Adjusting the Sync Polarities ......................22
        Saving the settings for a mode .....................22
        Saving the settings permanently ....................22

   Section 4.: Advanced Configuration Options...............23
                                                                            v




     UVCONFIG Menu Options .................................23
        Ignore old VBE BIOS ................................24
        Disable VBE 2.0 Extensions .........................24
        Disable Linear Framebuffer .........................24
     UVCONFIG Command Line Parameters ......................24
     UNIVBE Command Line Parameters ........................26
        Enabling/Disabling UniVBE ..........................26
     Modifying the UNIVBE.INI File .........................26
        Manually removing video modes ......................26
        Manually changing bytes per lines values ...........27
        Manually changing TrueColor pixel formats ..........27

   Section 5.:Troubleshooting Guide.........................28
     Linear framebuffer modes hang my machine ..............28
     The 15/16/24/32 bit TrueColor modes look wierd ........28
     The 24/32 bit TrueColor modes have swapped colors .....28
     386 Memory Managers ...................................29
     Common Questions and Answers ..........................29
     Technical Support .....................................31

   Appendix A:Supported Hardware............................33
     Graphics Chips -- Standard Support ....................33
     Graphics Chips -- Linear Frame Buffer Support .........33
     DAC Chips .............................................34
     DAC Chips -- 320x and 360x 15/16 bit modes ............35
     Known Bugs and Problems ...............................36
     List of cards tested with UniVBE 5.1 ..................37

   Appendix B:VBE Compatible Applications...................40

   Appendix C:Developer Information.........................41
     UniVBE Programming Information ........................41
     Video Modes Supported by UniVBE .......................41
        Hardware Limitations ...............................43
        Extended Text Modes ................................43
     Distribution Licensing Information ....................43

   Appendix D:Glossary......................................44

   Appendix E: VESA Software Standards Overview.............47

   Appendix F:Order/Product Feedback Forms..................50
     Order/Registration Form ...............................50
     Product Feedback Form .................................52

   Index....................................................53












   vi



                                                       UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide


   Section 1.:
   Introduction





   UniVBE - The Plug & Play Solution

   The Universal VESA BIOS Extension, _UniVBE_ extends the Video BIOS of just
   about any SuperVGA card, making it  compatible with the Video  Electronics
   Standards Association (VESA)  Video BIOS Extensions  (VBE).  Many  popular
   programs like The  7th Guest and  Microsoft Flight Simulator  5 rely on  a
   fully functioning VBE in order to obtain the highest performance possible.
   UniVBE gives you  the latest VBE  2.0 standard so  you can  be sure  these
   programs will not only work correctly, but will run as fast as possible on
   your system. Using UniVBE has many advantages:


   Benefits of UniVBE

     .  Plug & Play.  UniVBE will automatically detect your graphics card and
        make your software work correctly in high resolution modes. You don't
        have to try and figure out what kind of chip you have and then try to
        locate your vendor for a possible software upgrade.

     .  Compatibility.  It will make your graphics compatible with the latest
        VESA standards. If you have bugs in your current firmware, it can fix
        them and make it so you  can run your favorite graphics  applications
        without errors.

     .  Performance.  It will generally increase the performance of  existing
        software that uses  the VESA standards.  For software  that uses  VBE
        2.0, you will get significant additional performance improvements.

     .  Money and  Energy Saving.  UniVBE can  save you  money and  help  the
        environment at the same time. UniVBE  fully supports the VESA  VBE/PM
        and DPMS standards  for Energy Star  compliance, and  comes with  the
        UniPOWER_ power management screen savers. If you have an Energy  Star
        compliant monitor, the UniPower DOS and Windows screen saver programs
        allow you to power down the monitor to use as little as 5 watts  when
        not in use.

     .  New Modes.   UniVBE will  automatically create  new high  performance
        modes  on  your  graphics  card  that  allows  software,   especially
        interactive games and digital video,   to run faster and with  better
        quality than before.

     .  Diagnostics.  UniVBE also includes the VBETest and Profile  utilities
        which will fully test your card  for compliance with VESA  standards,
        as well as testing the performance of your graphics card.





                                                                            1



   UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
   Why You Should Replace Your Existing VBE Driver

   You may  already have  a vendor  supplied VESA  VBE TSR  or built  in  VBE
   support and want to know if you still need UniVBE.

   The simple answer is yes. Your graphics card probably implements an  older
   version of the VESA  VBE interface (if any  at all), or  it is just  plain
   buggy. For this  reason, many  of the  latest games  and graphics  related
   programs that  use  the advanced  features  of the  new  VBE 1.2  and  2.0
   standards will probably not work with  the TSR or BIOS that you  currently
   have.

   UniVBE fully  implements the  VBE Core  2.0 standard,  which supports  the
   features listed in Appendix  E. It is  better than the  one that may  have
   come with your graphics card for several reasons:

     .  Compatibility.    We  have  developed   the  defacto  test  for   VBE
        compliance, VBETest.  Many VBE drivers  cannot pass VBETest and  thus
        will probably  experience  problems when  trying  to run  real  world
        software. UniVBE will make your  graphics compatible with the  latest
        VESA standards. If  you have bugs  in your current  firmware, it  can
        automatically fix  them and  make it  so you  can run  your  favorite
        graphics applications without errors.

     .  VBE Core 2.0 Compatibility. Very few  cards have implemented the  new
        VBE 2.0 standard yet. VBE 2.0 has a high speed 32 bit protected  mode
        interface. Many  of  the latest  programs  are being  developed  will
        support VBE 2.0's 32-bit protected mode interface giving you as  much
        as 2-3 times the performance of VBE 1.2 programs.

     .  Speed. The  code  in  UniVBE generally  runs  much  faster  than  the
        routines embedded in the ROM BIOS of most video cards. Not only that,
        but on many systems UniVBE is able to obtain the maximum  performance
        from the video card.

     .  Small Memory Footprint. When the UniVBE is resident in your computer,
        it requires around 8K bytes of  high memory and is smaller than  most
        vendor supplied TSR's which support only a single video card.

     .  New Game  and  Digital  Video Modes.  UniVBE  enables  your  existing
        graphics card to display new high performance modes that will be used
        by  many   upcoming  high   performance  games   and  digital   video
        applications.

     .  Monitor Centering.  Includes the UniCenter_ program for adjusting the
        supported video  modes  for  optimum  performance  on  your  monitor.
        UniCenter allows you to adjust the centering and sizing for all video
        modes supported by UniVBE. It's great  for getting those video  modes
        to look just right on your monitor.

     .  Power Management. Supports the new VBE/PM 1.0 standard for  correctly
        signaling power management states  (standby, suspend, off) to  Energy
        Star (VESA DPMS) compliant video monitors.

     .  Mode Control -  UniVBE supports mapping  out video  modes that  don't
        work on your particular display. This  can eliminate the chance  that
        you can damage your monitor.

   2



                                                       UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
   What's New in this Version?

   If you are using UniVBE 5.0,  here are some of  the features that we  have
   added in UniVBE 5.1:

     .  Support for  the new  VBE 2.0  Core standard  including linear  frame
        buffer modes
     .  Support for many additional graphics cards and chips
     .  Creation of high performance game and digital video modes
     .  Addition of a menu driven configuration program
     .  Many other additional enhancements


   Hardware Requirements

   UniVBE will run on any 386  or higher based PC compatible running  MS-DOS,
   Windows, or an OS/2  2.x DOS shell. Currently  UniVBE supports all of  the
   VGA cards  listed in  Appendix A  and more  are being  added in  each  new
   revision of UniVBE.


   File Descriptions

   If you received  the complete UniVBE/Pro  Shareware, you  should have  the
   following files before you begin installation:

        FILE_ID.DIZ    BBS Archive Description
        README.TXT     Extended Archive Description
        ORDER.TXT      Product ordering information
        INSTALL.EXE    DOS Installation & Setup Program
        BIN.001        A zipped library of UniVBE utilities
        DOC.001        A zipped file containing the documentation
        DOS.001        A zipped library with UniCenter
        DOS.002        A zipped library with DOS DPMS utilities
        WIN.001        A zipped library with Windows screen saver
        UNZIP.EXE      Unzip program used by INSTALL

   If any  of  these files  are  missing or  corrupted,  you should  try  and
   download a new version from the places listed in the following section.

   After installation,  you will  see the  following files  in the  \UNIVBE51
   subdirectory:

        FILE_ID.DIZ    BBS Archive Description
        README.TXT     Extended Archive Description
        ORDER.TXT      A printable mail/fax order form.
        UNICENTR.EXE   Screen centering utility
        UNINSTAL.BAT   Batch file to uninstall UniVBE
        UNIPOWER.EXE   DPMS screen saver for DOS
        UNIVBE.DRV     A driver for your graphics card
        UNIVBE.TXT     Text version of this manual
        UNIVBE.RTF     Rich Text Format version of this manual
        UNIVBE.EXE     The main UNIVBE program
        UVCONFIG.EXE   UNIVBE.DRV generation/configuration program
        VBETEST.EXE    Program to test VESA VBE compliance
        PROFILE.EXE    VBE Performance profiling program
        PROFILE.LOG    Performance measurements for common cards

                                                                            3



   UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
   The following files will appear in your Windows directory:

        UNIPOWER.SCR   Windows Energy Star Screen Saver
        UNIPOWER.HLP   Help for UniPower/Windows
        CTL3DV2.DLL    File used by UniPower/Windows



   Getting the Latest Full Version

   The best places to download new versions of UniVBE are from the  following
   locations:

   World Wide Web : http://www.scitechsoft.com
   Internet/FTP        : ftp.scitechsoft.com
   Compuserve          : GO VESA (file library 12)
   America Online : Keyword VESA

   You can also contact SciTech Software and order a disk to be sent via mail
   for a nominal fee.






































   4



                                                       UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide


   Section 2.:
   Installation & Setup





   Installing UniVBE for the First Time

   Installing UniVBE on your system is a snap. Simply following these  simple
   steps:

     1. If you are running a pre-Windows 95 version of Windows, exit  Windows
        and return to DOS.  Installing UniVBE from  within those versions  of
        Windows could cause unpredictable results. If you encounter  problems
        installing under Windows 95  or OS/2, try  rebooting your machine  to
        run real  DOS  and  install  it from  there.  Once  you  have  UniVBE
        installed and configured you can then use it from any DOS box.

     2. Insert the UniVBE distribution diskette into  your floppy drive   and
        type  'A:INSTALL'  or  'B:INSTALL'  (depending  on  which  drive  you
        inserted the diskette into), and then press the Enter key.

   The installation program will start, and the first thing you will be asked
   is if you have a DPMS compliant video monitor. If you dont, click 'No' and
   INSTALL will  disable  the Power  Management  options. You  will  then  be
   presented with a screen describing the installation configuration  similar
   to the following:

   __________________________________________________________________________
                                     ______
   __________________________________________________________________________
                                     ______
   __________________________________________________________________________
                                     ______
   __________________________________________________________________________
                                     ______
   __________________________________________________________________________
                                     ______
   +-[_]------------------ UniVBE(tm)/Pro 5.1 Installation ------------------
                                     -----+
   | + Installation Directories ---------------------------------------------
                                     ---+ |
                          | |  Source       C:\INSTALL
                                      | |
                         | |  Destination  C:\UNIVBE51
                                      | |
                           | |  Windows      C:\WIN95
                                      | |
   | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                     ---+ |
                |   Install Utilities                   Options
                                       |
     |    [X] UniCENTER                      [X] Run UVConfig after install
                                       |

                                                                            5



   UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
        |    [X] UniPOWER for Windows           [X] Update AUTOEXEC.BAT
                                       |
       |    [X] UniPOWER for DOS               [X] Update Windows config
                                       |
                                       |
                                       |
          |               Install _                           Cancel _
                                       |
          |               _________                           ________
                                       |
   +-------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                     -----+
   __________________________________________________________________________
                                     ______
   __________________________________________________________________________
                                     ______
   __________________________________________________________________________
                                     ______
   __________________________________________________________________________
                                     ______
   __________________________________________________________________________
                                     ______
             UniVBE(tm) - Copyright (C) 1995 SciTech Software. All Rights
                                   Reserved.

     3. Verify the installation directories  for installing UniVBE into,  and
        change them if necessary. If you  are installing the UniPower  screen
        saver for Windows, verify  that the Windows  directory points to  the
        place where  you  have installed  Windows.  By default  INSTALL  will
        attempt to find where Windows is located on the path.

     4. INSTALL provides  you  a list  of  installation options.  Select  the
        options for the  utilities that you  wish to install.  If you're  not
        sure what to do, you should use the default options. If you  deselect
        the 'Update  AUTOEXEC.BAT'  option, you  will  have to  manually  run
        UniVBE  each  time  you  need  to   use  it  (instead  of  it   being
        automatically loaded when you  boot your machine).   If you  deselect
        the 'Update  Windows Config'  option,  you will  have  to go  to  the
        Windows Control  Panel  to  setup  the  UniPower  DPMS  screen  saver
        manually.

     5. Click the 'INSTALL' button, and  the installation program will  begin
        the installation process.

   Follow the instructions on the screen, and eventually you will be asked to
   register your copy of UniVBE:

   __________________________________________________________________________
                                     ______
   __________________________________________________________________________
                                     ______
   +-[_]------------------- Installing UniVBE(tm)/Pro 5.1 -------------------
                                     -----+
   |+ Progres+-[_]--------- Registering UniVBE(tm)/Pro 5.1 -------------+----
                                     ---+ |
     || Creatin|                                                          |
                                      | |

   6



                                                       UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
     || copy C:|  Please enter your name and Registration ID code. You    |
                                      | |
     || unzippi|  can purchase your Registration ID code with your        |
                                      | |
     || unzippi|  Visa/Mastercard by calling 1-800-4UNIVBE (USA & Canada  |
                                      | |
     || unzippi|  only), or by sending in the Shareware registration      |
                                      | |
     || unzippi|  form.                                                   |
                                      | |
     || unzippi|                                                          |
                                      | |
     || Updatin|  Click 'Trial' to install UniVBE/Pro as shareware.       |
                                      | |
     || Updatin|                                                          |
                                      | |
     || Registe|  Full name of owner                                      |
                                      | |
     ||        |  Registration Id                                         |
                                      | |
     ||        |                                                          |
                                      | |
     ||        |           OK   _                      Trial  _           |
                                      | |
     ||        |         ________                      ________           |
                                      | |
     ||        +----------------------------------------------------------+
                                      | |
                                       ||
                                      | |
   |+------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                     ---+ |
   +-------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                     -----+
   __________________________________________________________________________
                                     ______
   __________________________________________________________________________
                                     ______
             UniVBE(tm) - Copyright (C) 1995 SciTech Software. All Rights
                                   Reserved.

     6. Enter your  full name  and registration  ID and  hit the  Enter  key.
        Simply  click  the  _Evaluate_  button   to  install  UniVBE  as   an
        unregistered trial version.

   The next stage in the installation process it to configure UniVBE for  use
   with your  video card.  This  is done  with  the UVCONFIG  program,  which
   INSTALL automatically  runs  for you.  When  UVCONFIG runs,  you  will  be
   greeted with a configuration screen as follows:

   __________________________________________________________________________
                                     ______
   __________________________________________________________________________
                                     ______
   __________________________________________________________________________
                                     ______
   __________________________________________________________________________
                                     ______
                                                                            7



   UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
   __________________________________________________________________________
                                     ______
   +-[_]------------------ UniVBE(tm)/Pro 5.1 Configuration -----------------
                                     -----+
   | + Detected Video Configuration -----------------------------------------
                                     ---+ |
                             | |  SuperVGA ID  ATI
                                      | |
                       | |  Chipset ID    Mach64 88800-GX
                                    ..  | |
                            | |  Video memory  2 Mb
                                    ..  | |
                | |  RAM dac ID    SGS/Inmos STG1702 24 bit DAC
                                    ..  | |
   | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                     ---+ |
                          |                   Options
                                       |
                  |                   [ ] Ignore old VBE BIOS
                                       |
               |                   [ ] Disable VBE 2.0 extensions
                                       |
               |                   [ ] Disable Linear Framebuffer
                                       |
                                       |
                                       |
          |                  Ok   _                           Cancel _
                                       |
          |               _________                           ________
                                       |
   +-------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                     -----+
   __________________________________________________________________________
                                     ______
   __________________________________________________________________________
                                     ______
   __________________________________________________________________________
                                     ______
   __________________________________________________________________________
                                     ______
             UniVBE(tm) - Copyright (C) 1995 SciTech Software. All Rights
                                   Reserved.

     7. Verify that the installation matches your  video card, and hit  enter
        to accept the  configuration. If you  hit cancel at  this stage,  you
        will not have generated a valid UNIVBE.DRV file, and you will need to
        re-run UVCONFIG at a later date to create the driver file.

   When UVCONFIG is  run for  the first  time, it  runs through  the list  of
   available video modes  to verify that  they are working  correctly and  to
   automatically map out modes that are  not available on your system.  While
   this is  underway, your  video monitor  will go  blank and  may emit  mode
   switching noises and  flicker somewhat, which  is normal.  Also note  that
   this operation can take up to 30 seconds or so to complete, so be  patient
   before you hit that reset button!  UVCONFIG wont need to re-run this  test
   unless you change some of the configuration options such as the amount  of
   installed memory, chipset ID or RAMDAC.

   8



                                                       UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
   That's it! When the installation is  completed, you will be returned  into
   the directory that you installed UniVBE into (by default C:\UNIVBE51).  In
   order to install UniVBE  you will need to  reboot your machine before  the
   changes will take effect.


   What Happens During Installation?

   When you install UniVBE it will perform several functions and make changes
   to a couple files  on your hard  disk. This section  allows you to  review
   those changes before you run  the install program. If  you do not want  to
   perform one  of  these  operations  at  installation  time,  you  will  be
   presented with check boxes  to enable or disable  the various options.  If
   you use the defaults, the following things happen:

     1. The UniVBE files are automatically uncompressed in the directory  you
        specify.
     2. The UniPower screen saver is copied to your Windows directory.
     3. It will run the UVCONFIG utility so  that you can verify the type  of
        graphics card detected.
     4. It will  generate the  approriate UNIVBE.DRV  file for  driving  your
        video card.
     5. Backups are made of your AUTOEXEC.BAT, SYSTEM.INI and WIN.INI in case
        you decide to run the UNINSTAL.BAT utility later.
     5. One or two lines are added to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file to automatically
        runs UniVBE and UniPower when your system starts.
     6. The Windows SYSTEM.INI file is modified to make UniPower your default
        screen saver in Windows
     7. You will need to reboot the system for all changes to take effect.


   Configuring Your Software to Use UniVBE

   Once UniVBE is  installed, you  need to  make sure  that your  application
   software is configured to use the  VESA VBE standard. If your  application
   has a option to change hardware settings you should change that setting to
   use _VESA_  or _VESA  VBE_. UniVBE  5.1 works  with any  software that  is
   compatible with any version  of VESA VBE. The  most common setting is  VBE
   1.2 --  this will work  fine. If your software has  a driver for VBE  2.0,
   you should definitely use  that to take advantage  of all the  performance
   features of UniVBE.


   Changing the Settings of UniVBE After Installation

   If you need  to change  any of the  settings of  UniVBE, you  can run  the
   UVCONFIG.EXE program and this  will allow you to  change most of  UniVBE's
   settings including the type of graphics  card you have, installed RAM  and
   other options. For more information on modifying your configuration, refer
   to the 'Advanced Configuration Options' section.


   Changing your Video Card After Installation

   When the time comes to replace  the video card in  your system with a  new
   one, rest assured that UniVBE will probably work just as well with the new
   video cards as with your old one. However when you do so, you will need to

                                                                            9



   UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
   run the UVCONFIG program to reconfigure UniVBE for your new graphics card.
   If you used UniCenter, you will also want to re-center your video modes.


   Registering Your Software

   SciTech allows  you to  use UniVBE  for 21  days before  we ask  that  you
   register your software. If you have  an unregistered shareware version  of
   UniVBE, you have  determined that it  solves your problems  and you  would
   like to continue to use it, you should register it with SciTech Software.

   Why You Should Register Your Software
   By registering your shareware  version of UniVBE,  you will be  supporting
   SciTech so that  we can continue  to offer new,  innovative products  that
   support your graphics card. Shareware is  based on a _try before you  buy_
   concept, but it is  not free software. You  are required to register  your
   software if you continue to use it past the 21 day evaluation period.  You
   also will get rid of the message reminding you to register!

   Instant Registration by Credit Card
   To register instantly by  credit card, you can  call our toll free  number
   and we can give you a registration code over the phone. When you get  your
   registration code, you can  enter it in (see  process below) and you  will
   have a fully registered version.

   Registration by Mail or FAX
   To register by mail or fax, simply  print out the file ORDER.TXT, or  type
   _P_ when you get the opening registration reminder and one will be printed
   for you. If you mail in your registration, make sure to include a check or
   money order for the proper amount  or include your credit card number.  If
   you fax your order in, make sure you also include your credit card number.

   Entering Your Registration Code
   Once you get your registration code  from SciTech Software, there are  two
   ways to enter it and register your software.

     1.  Go  to  the  directory  where  you  installed  UniVBE  and  run  the
        REGISTER.EXE program or;
     2. When first run UniVBE, and  get the message to register, you can  hit
        the _R_ key.

   You will be asked to enter your full name and hit [Enter]. After you enter
   your name,  hit the  [Enter] key  and  then you  will  be asked  for  your
   registration id.  Enter the  number that  you received  from SciTech,  hit
   [ENTER] and you will be fully registered.

   What Happens If You Don't Register?
   Your software will not _self-destruct_ or anything similar to that. If the
   21 day evaluation period  ends before you get  a chance to register,  your
   full   version of  UniVBE will  become UniVBE/Lite,  which will  have  the
   following feature disabled:

     .  High-performance VBE 2.0 (only VBE 1.2 will be supported)
     .  VESA DPMS signaling
     .  VESA VBE/PM Interface
     .  Windows and DOS screen savers
     .  Screen centering
     .  High speed game/digitial video modes
   10



                                                       UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide

   Most programs  will continue  to run,  but  they will  run better  if  you
   register your  software. If  you  decide to  register  after your  21  day
   evaluation period expires, all of these features will be automatically re-
   enabled.


   Upgrading from Previous Versions

   When you upgrade to UniVBE 5.1 from previous versions, you should  install
   UniVBE 5.1 in a different directory. By default it will use the  \UNIVBE51
   subdirectory. Make sure when your computer  reboots that only version  5.1
   loads (this should happen automatically).

   In the price of our registration fee, SciTech allows you to upgrade to any
   minor revisions.  For instance,  if you  have registered  your version  of
   UniVBE 5.1 and we release a 5.2 version, you can download that version and
   enter your registration  code and  you will be  all set.  When we  release
   UniVBE 6.0 or its  an equivalent major release,  registered users will  be
   entitled to  significant discounts  on new  versions of  UniVBE and  other
   SciTech products.


   Uninstalling or Disabling UniVBE

   If you determine that UniVBE does not meet your needs, you can disable  it
   by the using one of the following two procedures:

   Automatic Uninstall with UNINSTAL.BAT
   UniVBE comes with a utility called UNINSTAL.BAT. This utility should  only
   be used shortly after you have installed UniVBE. It will copy back all  of
   your original configuration files before you installed UniVBE.

   WARNING: All changes to your system  configuration that you made from  the
   time you installed  UniVBE until you  ran UNINSTAL.BAT will  be lost.  You
   should only use  this option  if you  have not  made any  changes to  your
   system configuration.

   Manual Unistall
   If some  time has  elapsed since  you  installed UniVBE  and you  wish  to
   uninstall it, you can do it with the following procedures:

     1. Edit your  AUTOEXEC.BAT  file  and  remove  the  line  that  contains
        UNIVBE.EXE and/or UNIPOWER.EXE.

     2. If you installed the UniPower/Windows screen saver, you can go to the
        Windows Control Panel, select  the Desktop icon  and select a  screen
        saver other than UniPower DPMS, or you can simply disable the  screen
        saver option.

     3. Finally, if you want  to completely remove  UniVBE from your  system.
        You can  erase all  of the  files in  the \UNIVBE51  subdirectory  or
        whatever you named the primary UniVBE subdirectory.

   Your system will now no longer load UniVBE.



                                                                           11



   UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide


   Section 3.:
   Supplemental Utility Programs



   UniVBE includes  several useful  utilities  for testing,  configuring  and
   managing your graphics display.  The description and  the function of  the
   utilities are described in this section.


   VBETest

   UniVBE is also  installed with the  VBETEST.EXE programs  for testing  the
   operation of UniVBE. This  programs will allow you  to fully test all  the
   different video  modes that  UniVBE supports.  The  VBETest program  is  a
   stress test and  conformance testing  program to  full test  the VESA  VBE
   implementation for compliance.  You might want  to test  your current  VBE
   BIOS or TSR vs. UniVBE by toggling the Enable/Disable UniVBE choice.

   When you run VBETest, you will be greeted with a set of main menu  options
   as follows:

        VBETest - VESA VBE/Core 2.0 Compliance Test
                  Release 5.1 (Mar 27 1995)

        Copyright (C) 1994-95 SciTech Software, All Rights Reserved.

        Currently running in 32 bit protected mode

        VBE OEM string: Universal VESA VBE 5.1
        VBE Version:    2.0
        Memory:         2048k

        Select test to perform:

            [0] - Interactive Visual Compliance Tests
            [1] - Quick Compliance Test
            [2] - Full Compliance Test (long)
            [3] - Enable/Disable UniVBE
            [4] - VBE/PM Power Management Tests
            [Q] - Quit

        Choice:

   This main menu will  provide you with  the Vendor OEM  string for you  VBE
   implementation (in this  case UniVBE 5.1),  version number  and amount  of
   video memory available to VBE applications (note that on some boards,  not
   all video memory is available for VBE applications to use). Valid  version
   numbers are 1.0, 1.1, 1.2 and 2.0. Some vendors have used version  numbers
   other than  these,  which  are incorrect  and  can  cause  confusion  with
   application programs intending to use the VBE interface.

   Interactive Visual Compliance Test
   This option allows you to test a specific mode to see if it is  compatible
   with the VBE standard. This is good if you know what mode a program may be
   having problems with  and you  want to  go right  to that  mode. Once  you
   12



                                                       UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
   select this option,  you will be  presented with a  menu requiring you  to
   select the color depth that you wish to test:
























































                                                                           13



   UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
        VBETest - VESA VBE/Core 2.0 Compliance Test
                  Release 5.1 (Mar 27 1995)

        Copyright (C) 1994-95 SciTech Software, All Rights Reserved.

        Interactive Visual Tests

        Extended CRTC addressing:   Yes
        8 bit wide DAC support:     Yes
        Linear framebuffer support: Yes (located at 4032 Mb)

        Select color mode to test:

            [0] - 4 bits per pixel modes
            [1] - 8 bits per pixel modes
            [2] - 15 bits per pixel modes
            [3] - 16 bits per pixel modes
            [4] - 24 bits per pixel modes
            [5] - 32 bits per pixel modes
            [Q] - Quit

        Choice:

   This screen provides you with information  about the capabilities of  your
   video card and your VBE implementation. It tells you whether the following
   features are supported:

     .  Extended CRT Addresssing; If your  video card supports extended  CRTC
        addressing (most  video  cards do)  then  software will  be  able  to
        perform double buffering  techniques to produce  high quality  smooth
        animation for games and other real-time and interactive applications.

     .  8 bit wide DAC;  If your video card  supports an 8  bit wide DAC,  it
        means that  the DAC  provides  8 bits  per  primary (24  bits  total)
        palette entries for generating color values in 256 color video modes.
        This means that applications can choose  256 colors out of a  palette
        of 16.7 million  where you  can have  256 individual  shades of  Red,
        Green and Blue color channel information.  The standard VGA DAC  only
        provided 6 bits per primary (18 bits total) for a palette of  256,000
        colors.

     .  Linear Framebuffer  Support; If  your video  card supports  a  linear
        framebuffer, high performance 32 bit protected mode applications  can
        use this to access the video cards memory without needing to  perform
        slow bank switching  operations. This allows  32 bit applications  to
        run at absolute maximum speed.

        Also note that on new PCI  bus systems, the linear framebuffer  modes
        are often  the  only modes  that  provide  the full  PCI  burst  mode
        operation to the video  card. In these  cases the linear  framebuffer
        modes can provide  over 2 times  the speed of  the normal VBE  banked
        framebuffer modes!

   Once you select  the color depth  that you wish  to test (say  8 bits  per
   pixel) you will  be required to  select the resolution  of the video  mode
   that you wish to test such as the following:


   14



                                                       UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
        VBETest - VESA VBE/Core 2.0 Compliance Test
                  Release 5.1 (Mar 27 1995)

        Copyright (C) 1994-95 SciTech Software, All Rights Reserved.

        Which video mode to test:

            [0] -  320 x  200 8 bit (16 page, Banked+Linear)
            [1] -  360 x  200 8 bit ( 8 page, Banked+Linear)
            [2] -  320 x  240 8 bit ( 8 page, Banked+Linear)
            [3] -  360 x  240 8 bit ( 8 page, Banked+Linear)
            [4] -  320 x  400 8 bit ( 8 page, Banked+Linear)
            [5] -  360 x  400 8 bit ( 5 page, Banked+Linear)
            [6] -  640 x  350 8 bit ( 8 page, Banked+Linear, NonVGA)
            [7] -  640 x  400 8 bit ( 8 page, Banked+Linear, NonVGA)
            [8] -  640 x  480 8 bit ( 6 page, Banked+Linear, NonVGA)
            [9] -  800 x  600 8 bit ( 4 page, Banked+Linear, NonVGA)
            [A] - 1024 x  768 8 bit ( 2 page, Banked+Linear, NonVGA)
            [B] - 1280 x 1024 8 bit ( 1 page, Banked+Linear, NonVGA)
            [Q] - Quit

        Choice:

   This menu shows you all video  mode resolutions available, along with  the
   number of  physical  display pages  available  (for double  buffering  and
   smooth animation techniques).  It also provide  information about  whether
   the mode can support banked framebuffer access, linear framebuffer  access
   or both. Note also that some modes are marked as 'NonVGA'. These modes are
   coming out on  new video  cards, and they  are not  fully VGA  compatible.
   These modes may have problems with  applications that are not designed  to
   support VBE 2.0 video modes.

   Once you select a video mode, if you have the choice of either banked  and
   linear framebuffer modes,  you will  be presented  with one  last menu  to
   choose which  one you  wish to  test. Hit  a key  at any  time during  the
   testing process to cut the tests short and move onto the next test.


   Quick/Full Compliance Tests
   These compliance tests  will first run  a suite of  low level  conformance
   tests to ensure that your BIOS conforms to the proper VBE  specifications.
   Each time you run a compliance test, VBETest will generate a log file with
   the results of the  test. That log file  will be stored  in a file  called
   VBETEST.LOG and will saved in the same directory as VBETest. This log  can
   be very helpful for  SciTech or your hardware  and software companies  for
   tracking down problems.

   The Quick version of the test will  simply test all the major features  of
   the VBE Core 1.2 or 2.0 specifications.  It will not test every mode,  but
   it will test a representative sample of the modes so that you can  quickly
   test  if  your  graphics  is  VBE  compatible.  The  full  version  is   a
   comprehensive test that  will run through  every mode  that your  graphics
   card can display and see if it  is working properly. The full version  can
   take a considerable amount of time to run to completion.

   Enable/Disable UniVBE
   This options will allow you to temporarily disable UniVBE and re-enable it
   again from within VBETest. This will allow  you to run the tests with  and
                                                                           15



   UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
   without UniVBE active to see what  sort of performance benefits and  extra
   features UniVBE provides compared to your current VBE implementation.

   VBE/PM Power Management Tests
   This will allow you  to test your  video card and  monitor for VBE/PM  and
   DPMS compatibility. It  will tell you  what DPMS modes  that the  graphics
   card supports and allow you to try and set them as follows:

        VBETest - VESA VBE/Core 2.0 Compliance Test
                  Release 5.1 (Mar 27 1995)

        Copyright (C) 1994-95 SciTech Software, All Rights Reserved.

        VBE/PM version 1.0 active. Supports the following states:

          STAND BY
          SUSPEND
          OFF

        Enter which mode (ESC to quit):

            [0] - ON
            [1] - Stand-By
            [2] - Suspend
            [3] - Off
            [Q] - Quit

        Which:

   Note that if you attempt to set a mode that is not supported by your video
   card, VBETest will simply  do nothing. Remember that  the display will  be
   blanked when you are testing a power down mode, so remember to hit '0'  to
   bring the display back to life again!!

























   16



                                                       UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide


   Profile

   Profile is  a  performance profiling  program  that SciTech  Software  has
   developed for profiling  the performance  of different  types of  graphics
   operations. Profile is a 32 bit protected mode program so will use the VBE
   2.0 32 bit extensions for maximum performance. Running Profile without any
   command  line  options  will  provide  a  usage  message  similar  to  the
   following:

        Profile - UniVBE Performance Profiling Program
                  Release 5.1 (Feb 28 1995)

        Copyright (C) 1993-95 SciTech Software, All Rights Reserved.

        Options are:
            -t       - Thrash the system memory cache during BitBlt's (32 bit
        only)

        Usage: profile [-t] <mode> [video card name [logfile]]

        Press a key for list of video modes.

        Available modes are (add 4000 for Linear Framebuffer version):
            100 -  640 x  400  8 bits per pixel
            101 -  640 x  480  8 bits per pixel
            etc...

   To run Profile, simply select  the number for the  video mode you wish  to
   test and  add  it  to the  command  line.  So if  you  wanted  to  profile
   640x480x8, you would enter:

        PROFILE 101

   To profile the linear framebuffer version you  would add a 4 to the  front
   of the mode number, or 4101 in this case. Profile will then display  lists
   of the results after running the tests,  as sample of which is as  follows
   (using the linear framebuffer mode for maximum performance):

        Profiling results for mode 4101h, 640x480 256 color.
        Running in 32 bit protected mode with linear framebuffer

         0.0862s for     1000 lines   =>   11603.89 lines/s
         1.9568s for      300 clears  =>     153.31 clears/s,   44.91 Mb/s
         1.4058s for      150 bitBlts =>     106.70 bitBlt/s,   31.26 Mb/s

        Baseline values:

        REP STOSD in system memory:   30.87 Mb/s
        REP MOVSD in system memory:   24.43 Mb/s

        No cache thrashing.

   Note that Profile also times the memory clearing and copying operations in
   normal system memory as a performance comparison. Note that with the  fast
   test card used above, the memory on the video card is actually faster than

                                                                           17



   UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
   the normal system memory which is common for high performance PCI and  VLB
   video cards.

   SciTech Software  has  logged  the performance  profiling  results  for  a
   significant number of PCI and VLB video cards, and the results are  stored
   in the file PROFILE.LOG in the directory where you installed UniVBE  into.
   You might want  to have a  look in this  file to see  how your video  card
   stacks up against the best cards on the market.


















































   18



                                                       UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide


   UniPower

   UniPOWER is a power management screen  saver that will shut down any  DPMS
   compliant video  monitor  via  the  VESA  VBE/PM  interface  (provided  by
   UniVBE/Pro). UniPOWER comes in two flavors, the UNIPOWER.EXE screen  saver
   for DOS and  the UNIPOWER.SCR  screen saver  for Windows.  By default  the
   installation program for  UniVBE will install  both UniPOWER  for DOS  and
   UniPOWER for Windows.

   Is Your Monitor Compatible with DPMS?
   If you  monitor has  an  _Energy Star_  logo,  or was  manufactured  after
   January 1994, then  is probably compatible  with the  VESA DPMS  standard.
   When in  a  DPMS  mode,  a  compatible  monitor  will  usually  give  some
   indication, such as a green power light turning to amber or a message will
   appear on displays with LED status displays.

   UniPower For Windows
   The UNIPOWER.SCR program is  a standard Windows screen  saver, so you  can
   use it just like you use all your normal Windows screen savers. By default
   the installation program  will have installed  and activated the  UniPOWER
   for Windows screen saver. However you can change the way that UniPOWER for
   Window operates. First you need to open up the Windows Control Panel,  and
   then hit the 'Setup' button for  the installed screen saver (which  should
   be 'UniPOWER  DPMS'). This  will bring  up a  dialog box  allowing you  to
   modify UniPOWER's configuration.   Extensive  online help  is provide  for
   UniPOWER for  Windows (just  click 'Help'  in the  Setup Dialog  Box),  so
   please consult the online documentation for more information.

   UniPower For DOS
   The UniPOWER.EXE  screen saver  for  DOS is  a  small Terminate  and  Stay
   Resident (TSR) program that hooks into the mouse and keyboard  interrupts,
   and monitors them for activity. If no  activity is sensed for a period  of
   time, UniPOWER  will  begin  shutting the  monitor  down  into  the  power
   management states. When UniPOWER.EXE is installed, when you start  Windows
   it will de-activate itself allowing the UniPOWER.SCR Windows based  screen
   saver to  take  over.  When you  exit  Windows  back to  the  DOS  prompt,
   UniPOWER.EXE will re-activate itself. Note  that UniPOWER.EXE will not  be
   active in a Windows DOS shell, even if the DOS shell is run full screen.

   Command Line Options
   Running UNIPOWER.EXE with the -h command line option will provide you with
   a usage list similar to the following:














                                                                           19



   UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
        UniPOWER(tm)/Shareware - DOS DPMS Screen Saver Utility
                                 Release 5.1 (Mar 30 1995)

        Copyright (C) 1994-95 SciTech Software, All Rights Reserved.

        Usage: UniPOWER [-unsc] [STANDBY delay] <SUSPEND delay> <OFF delay>

        The delay values passed on the command line specify how long UniPOWER
        will
        wait until each of the specified states is enabled. Note that each
        delay is
        cumulative. That is the time to reach the OFF state is the total
        delay for
        the STANDBY, SUSPEND and OFF states. All delay times are specified in
        minutes.

        The STANDBY delay value is optional since many monitors do not
        support it.
        Leaving it out will cause that state to be skipped. Note also that
        you can
        set the off delay to -1 to disable this state as it can cause
        problems on
        older VGA cards.

        Options are:
            -u    - Unload UniPOWER from memory
            -n    - Disable screen saver and load only VBE/PM interface
            -s<x> - Force detection of SuperVGA (-s0 for list)
            -c<x> - Force detection of SuperVGA chipset (-c0 for list)

   By default UniPOWER.EXE  will have been  installed into your  AUTOEXEC.BAT
   file with a SUSPEND delay of  5 minutes, and an  OFF delay of 15  minutes,
   and the STANDBY state disabled.

   If you install UniPOWER  before your mouse  driver, it will  automatically
   detect when  the mouse  driver installs  itself and  hook into  the  mouse
   driver interrupts after it is successfully installed.


   Problems with the Standby State
   When you installed UniPOWER, the Standby state was probably disabled. Many
   monitors do not  support this  particular state,  and on  some video  card
   configurations, this  state is  impossible to  signal correctly.  You  may
   notice that when the Standby state  has been activated, the video  monitor
   goes directly in  the Off state,  rather than the  Standby state. If  this
   happens then your video card was  not able to correctly signal this  state
   to the video monitor, and it should disabled.

   If you wish to activate the Standby state, be sure to test it for  correct
   operation with your  video monitor using  the provide TEST  button in  the
   UniPOWER for Windows configuration dialog box. If the state is not working
   correctly, you will not  damage your video card  or your monitor, but  the
   monitor will incorrectly detect this state as the Off state.





   20



                                                       UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide


   UniCenter

   If you have  installed the UniCenter  utility program, it  will have  been
   placed into  the directory  where you  also installed  UniVBE/Pro. To  use
   UniCenter, first change to  the directory where  UniVBE is installed  (the
   following example assumes the default installation):

        CD \UNIVBE

   Then run the UniCenter program with the following command:

        UNICENTR

   You will then be presented with a menu to first allow you to select  color
   depth of the mode you wish to center as follows:

        UniCENTER(tm) - Video Mode Centering Utility (Version 5.1)

        Copyright (C) 1993-95 SciTech Software, All Rights Reserved.

        Select modes to center:

            [0] - 4 bits per pixel modes
            [1] - 8 bits per pixel modes
            [2] - 15 bits per pixel modes
            [3] - 16 bits per pixel modes
            [4] - 24 bits per pixel modes
            [5] - 32 bits per pixel modes
            [Q] - Quit

        Choice:

   When you select  the color  depth you  will be  presented with  a list  of
   available video modes for that depth, such as the following:

        UniCENTER(tm) - Video Mode Centering Utility (Version 5.1)

        Copyright (C) 1993-95 SciTech Software, All Rights Reserved.

        Which video mode to center:

            [0] - 320 x 200 256 color
            [1] - 360 x 200 256 color
            [2] - 320 x 240 256 color
            [3] - 360 x 240 256 color
            [4] - 320 x 400 256 color
            [5] - 360 x 400 256 color
            [Q] - Quit

        Choice:

   UniVBE 5.1 now  includes our  exclusive reverse  mode mapping  technology,
   which allows us  to also center  the NonVBE modes  provided by your  video
   card. This means that UniCENTER will  not only center your VBE modes,  but
   it will also center  the modes used by  other NonVBE applications such  as

                                                                           21



   UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
   Windows.  Note however that this will not work for cards that have  NonVGA
   video modes, such as the ATI Mach32/64 and Weitek P9000.

   Adjusting a video mode
   To adjust a video mode, simply  follow the instructions on the screen  and
   using the arrow  keys to  move and  size the  image. Centering  a mode  is
   usually just a matter of moving the image with the arrow keys, but you may
   want to experiment  with adjusting  the horizontal  size of  the image  as
   well. Adjusting  the  horiztonal size  will  however change  the  vertical
   refresh rate for the video mode.

   Adjusting the Sync Polarities
   When you are  adjusting a video  mode, you can  toggle the Horizontal  and
   Vertical sync polarities with  the 'h' and 'v'  keys. The polarity of  the
   sync lines were originally used by the video card to let the video monitor
   auto size the vertical  dimensions of a video  mode. For monitors  without
   digital adjustments, this allows the  monitor to recognise vertical  sizes
   of 350, 400 or 480 lines in height.

   However  adjusting  the  sync  polarities  is  actually  very  useful  for
   centering your  modes  on  new  monitors  with  built  in  digital  sizing
   adjustments. These  monitors usually  store sizing  information for  video
   modes based  on  their  horizontal  and  vertical  timings  and  the  sync
   polarities! Hence it is sometimes possible  for certain video modes to  be
   recognised by the monitor  as the same  mode, but the  sizing for the  two
   modes is different. In this case, if you toggle one of the sync polarities
   for the problem  mode, you  will then  be able  to adjust  and stores  its
   settings independantly from the original mode.

   Saving the settings for a mode
   When you are finished hit the  [Enter] key - if  you adjust the image  too
   far and it goes  out of sync, hit  the [ESC] key and  you will be  dropped
   back to the previous menu and the settings will not be saved. If you  wish
   to revert back to the original settings, simply hit [Esc] and the  changes
   you made will be discarded.

   Saving the settings permanently
   When you have finished adjusting all your video modes, exit UniCenter  and
   the adjustments will be saved into  the UNIVBE.DRV file. Note that if  you
   have UniVBE currently  installed, the centering  values are  automatically
   updated in the installed version so you dont need to re-install UniVBE for
   the changes to  take effect.  Note that  UniCENTER will  run even  without
   UniVBE installed. If UniVBE is not installed, it will automatically loaded
   the UNIVBE.DRV file from the disk. However in this case the centered modes
   will not be available until UniVBE is installed.













   22



                                                       UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide


   Section 4.:
   Advanced Configuration Options



   In most cases, you will not need to use the information contained in  this
   section. It is  meant for users  that are experiencing  problems or  power
   users who would like more control over their display.


   UVCONFIG Menu Options

   UVCONFIG provides you with fine control  over the way that the  UNIVBE.DRV
   driver file is configured. When you run UVCONFIG, you are presented with a
   display similar to the folloowing:

   __________________________________________________________________________
                                     ______
   __________________________________________________________________________
                                     ______
   __________________________________________________________________________
                                     ______
   __________________________________________________________________________
                                     ______
   __________________________________________________________________________
                                     ______
   +-[_]------------------ UniVBE(tm)/Pro 5.1 Configuration -----------------
                                     -----+
   | + Detected Video Configuration -----------------------------------------
                                     ---+ |
                             | |  SuperVGA ID  ATI
                                      | |
                       | |  Chipset ID    Mach64 88800-GX
                                    ..  | |
                            | |  Video memory  2 Mb
                                    ..  | |
                | |  RAM dac ID    SGS/Inmos STG1702 24 bit DAC
                                    ..  | |
   | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                     ---+ |
                          |                   Options
                                       |
                  |                   [ ] Ignore old VBE BIOS
                                       |
               |                   [ ] Disable VBE 2.0 extensions
                                       |
               |                   [ ] Disable Linear Framebuffer
                                       |
                                       |
                                       |
          |                  Ok   _                           Cancel _
                                       |
          |               _________                           ________
                                       |
   +-------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                     -----+
                                                                           23



   UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
   __________________________________________________________________________
                                     ______
   __________________________________________________________________________
                                     ______
   __________________________________________________________________________
                                     ______
   __________________________________________________________________________
                                     ______
             UniVBE(tm) - Copyright (C) 1995 SciTech Software. All Rights
                                   Reserved.


   Ignore old VBE BIOS
   This option is used to  force UniVBE to ignore  an underlying VBE BIOS  if
   one is present.  By default  UniVBE will  use pass  through techniques  to
   support functions provided  by the underlying  BIOS that  UniVBE does  not
   provide. In some severe cases the underlying BIOS is buggy and will  cause
   UniVBE to behave incorrectly, so you  will need to force UniVBE to  ignore
   it.

   If you are experiencing problems with  your video card, you might like  to
   check this option to see if it will clear up the problems.

   Disable VBE 2.0 Extensions
   This  option  is  used   to  force  UniVBE  to   install  as  a  VBE   1.2
   implementation, and to turn off all the VBE 2.0 extensions. If you have an
   application that is not working correctly with some of the 2.0 features of
   UniVBE, you might try reverting UniVBE back to VBE 1.2 to see if this will
   make the application work correctly. This option is also useful to see how
   much  of  a  difference  to  performance  VBE  2.0  can  make  to  certain
   applications.

   Disable Linear Framebuffer
   This option is provided  to disable the  linear framebuffer support.  Some
   older motherboards cannot correctly address physical memory locations high
   in extended memory where UniVBE locates the linear framebuffer, and  hence
   the linear  framebuffer memory  map interfere  with normal  system  memory
   locations. If VBETest or other VBE 2.0 applications hang when you  attempt
   to use a linear framebuffer mode, this  may be the case. Turning off  this
   option will ensure  that these  application will  not attempt  to use  the
   linear framebuffer modes.


   UVCONFIG Command Line Parameters

   UVCONFIG supports  a number  of different  command line  options.  Running
   UVCONFIG.EXE with the -h command line option will provide you with a  list
   similar to the following:

        UniVBE(tm)/Pro - Universal VESA BIOS Extension (VBE)
                         Release 5.1 (Mar 30 1995)

        Copyright (C) 1993-95 SciTech Software, All Rights Reserved.

        Usage: UVCONFIG [-scmdlE]

        Options are:
            -s<x>    - Force detection of SuperVGA family (-s0 for list)
   24



                                                       UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
            -c<x>    - Force detection of SuperVGA chipset (-c0 for list)
            -m<size> - Force memory size to 'size'
            -d<x>    - Force DAC type (-d0 for list)
            -l<loc>  - Enable linear framebuffer at 'loc' Mb (0 to disable)
            -f       - Print full list of supported SuperVGA families and
        chipsets
            -E       - Force emulation of SuperVGA 320x200/240/400x8 modes

   Most of the command line parameters for UVCONFIG are used to get  complete
   lists of supported  video cards  (-F for  instance prints  out a  complete
   list). Although you can force the  detected id from the command line,  you
   can change it just as easily from the menu options.

   The -L command  line option  can be  used to  change the  location of  the
   linear framebuffer. If the default location that UniVBE uses conflicts  in
   some way, you might try changing it to a different location. The locations
   that are generally  used are 14Mb,  32Mb, 64Mb, 78Mb,  2048Mb and  4032Mb.
   Normally UniVBE will get the location  of the buffer from the video  card,
   either by reading the cards configuration registers or by looking for  the
   location of the active  linear buffer, so changing  this may simply  cause
   the linear  buffer to  stop working,  or worse  hang your  system. If  you
   change this option, be prepared to hit the reset button!

   The -E command line option can be  used to force emulation of SciTech  low
   res SuperVGA Modes. This option should not be needed, but if you find that
   the low res SuperVGA modes  do not work, you  might try this command  line
   option to see if the emulation techniques will work on your card. If  this
   does work, please  contact SciTech  Software with  information about  your
   system so that  we can do  this automatically for  your card  in the  next
   release.




























                                                                           25



   UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
   UNIVBE Command Line Parameters

   Running UNIVBE.EXE with the -h command line option will provide you with a
   list similar to the following:

        UniVBE(tm)/Shareware - Universal VESA BIOS Extension (VBE)
                               Release 5.1 (Mar 30 1995)

        Copyright (C) 1993-95 SciTech Software, All Rights Reserved.

        Usage: UNIVBE [-ur] [[ON|OFF] [VBE20]]

        Options are:
            -u       - Unload the Universal VESA VBE from memory
            -r       - Remove support for Low Res video modes


   Enabling/Disabling UniVBE
   You can enable and disable  UniVBE from the command  line with the ON  and
   OFF command  line options.  This will  allow  you to  temporarily  disable
   UniVBE from batch files if  you need to run  programs that dont work  with
   UniVBE installed. You can  also temporarily disable  VBE 2.0 support  with
   the 'OFF VBE20' command line option.

   The -U command line option can be used to unload UniVBE from memory.  Note
   that this option will only work if  no other TSR's have been loaded  after
   UniVBE in memory. If UniVBE cannot be unloaded, it will exit with an error
   message to that effect.

   The -R command line option can be used to map out support for the low  res
   games modes if these modes are causing problems on your system.


   Modifying the UNIVBE.INI File

   For most  installations, UniVBE  will  automatically determine  the  video
   modes that your card supports. However on some video configurations,  some
   video modes that  UniVBE provides may  not be supported  properly by  your
   monitor, so  the  mode  will be  unsuable  on  your system.  In  ver  rare
   instance, a  mode may  be set  up  with an  incorrect  bytes per  line  or
   TrueColor pixel  format  information.  The  UNIVBE.INI  file  is  used  to
   manually configure UniVBE in these situations.

   By default there is no  UNIVBE.INI file in the  directory. To use it,  you
   will have to manually create the file, delete the original UNIVBE.DRV file
   and  then  re-run  UVCONFIG  to  generate  a  new  driver  file  with  the
   appropriate overrides read from the UNIVBE.INI file.


   Manually removing video modes
   All manually removed video modes are  listed under the section  '[Remove]'
   in the UNIVBE.INI file. They are  listed as the hexadecimal internal  mode
   numbers used by the TSR (see the section 'Video Modes supported by UniVBE'
   below for more information). An example UNIVBE.INI file might be:

        [Remove]
        10D
        10E
   26



                                                       UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide


   Manually changing bytes per lines values
   You can change  the default  bytes per  line values  for particular  video
   modes in the  '[BytesPerLine]' section in  the UNIVBE.INI  file. The  mode
   number is  listed  first in  hexadecimal  (see the  section  'Video  Modes
   supported by UniVBE' below for more information) followed by the new bytes
   per line value in  decimal. An example UNIVBE.INI  file might be  (setting
   640x480x24 to 2048 bytes per line):

        [BytesPerLine]
        112 2048


   Manually changing TrueColor pixel formats
   You can change the default TrueColor pixel formats for the 15, 16, 24  and
   32 bits per pixel modes. The pixel  format information is used by the  VBE
   application to determine  how to pack  the pixel information  so that  the
   color information will be interpreted correctly by the video card. If  the
   24 or 32 bits per pixel modes have  colors swapped, then you will need  to
   changes these values. The values are listed in the '[PixelFormat]' section
   of the UNIVBE.INI file, and consist of values in the following format:

        <bits> <redSize> <redPos> <greenSize> <greenPos> <blueSize> <bluePos>
        <rsvdSize> <rsvdPos>

   An example UNIVBE.INI file might be:

        [PixelFormat]
        24 8 0 8 8 8 16 0 0




























                                                                           27



   UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide


   Section 5.:
   Troubleshooting Guide



   If you are encountering problems with UniVBE, please carefully review this
   entire section  and see  if you  can find  the solution  to your  problem.
   Please also  consult the  'Known Bugs  and  Problems' sections  which  may
   mention the problem you are having.


   Linear framebuffer modes hang my machine

   If when you  attempt to use  the linear framebuffer  modes of UniVBE,  and
   your application (or VBETest)  hangs you machine, you  most likely have  a
   conflict with the location of the linear framebuffer and another device in
   your system.  It  is  also  possible  with  older  motherboards  that  the
   motherboard cannot address the linear buffer  where it is located, so  you
   may need to move it lower down in memory.

   The first thing to try is changing the location of the linear  framebuffer
   with the -L command line option of UVCONFIG. The most compatible  location
   appears to be 32Mb, so you  might try forcing it  to 32Mb with UVCONFIG  -
   L32. It this does not work, you can  try other locations above the end  of
   your normal system memory (if you have 16Mb RAM, dont attempt to enable
   the buffer below 16Mb!).

   If you still cannot get the linear buffer modes working, then disable  the
   linear buffer with UVCONFIG  so that no applications  will attempt to  use
   it.


   The 15/16/24/32 bit TrueColor modes look wierd

   This is caused  by UVCONFIG possibly  incorrectly identifying your  RAMDAC
   configuration. First check to make sure that UVCONFIG really has  detected
   the correct RAMDAC. If you dont know  the part number of your RAMDAC,  you
   can determine this by looking at your video card. The RAMDAC is  generally
   the second  or third  biggest chip  on the  board, and  you can  check  it
   against the list of parts the UniVBE supports to find the one that matches
   your system. Try forcing  UniVBE to use the  correct RAMDAC with  UVCONFIG
   once you have determined what it is meant to be.

   If it still does not work, try forcing  the RAMDAC to the 'Generic 24  bit
   TrueColor DAC',  which  will not  allow  UniVBE to  directly  program  the
   RAMDAC. If this does correct the problem, please let SciTech Software know
   about your card and the problems you had so that we can try and rectify it
   in a future release. If  you select this RAMDAC  however, you will not  be
   able to use the low res HiColor game modes.


   The 24/32 bit TrueColor modes have swapped colors

   This is caused by UniVBE incorrectly determining the pixel format used  in
   the 24/32 bits  per pixel modes.  The most common  situation is for  cards
   that have a DAC that sets  up the 24 bit modes  in BGR format rather  than
   28



                                                       UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
   RGB format  (UniVBE should  normally automatically  detect this).  To  fix
   this, you will  need to create  a UNIVBE.INI file  and re-run UVCONFIG  to
   change the pixel format (see the section 'Manually Chaning TrueColor Pixel
   Formats' for more information. If you need to change the 24 bit format  to
   BGR rather than RGB, you would create a UNIVBE.INI file with the following
   information in it:

        [PixelFormat]
        24 8 0 8 8 8 16 0 0


   386 Memory Managers

   Sometimes a 386 memory manager can conflict with the correct operation  of
   UniVBE for certain  video card configurations.  If you have  a 386  Memory
   Manager installed such as EMM386, QEMM, QRAM or 386MAX and when attempting
   the install UniVBE the machine just hangs, or an application attempting to
   use UniVBE hangs you possibly have a memory manager conflict. Specifically
   if you have an ATI Mach32 or Mach64 based video card (Graphics Ultra  Pro,
   Graphics Ultra Turbo) you will need  to exclude the video BIOS region  for
   correct operation, so proceed to step 2. To attempt to solve this, try the
   following steps (you might also like to refer to the documentation on your
   memory manager - QEMM for instance  has a long section on  troubleshooting
   such installation problems):

     1. First do  a clean  boot  (with no  memory  managers or  TSR  programs
        installed apart  from HIMEM.SYS  and MSDOS)  and attempt  to  install
        UniVBE. In newer  versions of DOS,  you can do  this by booting  your
        system and  holding down  the  [F5] key  after  you see  the  message
        _Loading MS-DOS .._. If UniVBE works in this configuration, then  you
        have a conflict,  and proceed  to step 2.  If UniVBE  still does  not
        work, then you possibly have a video card that is not fully supported
        by UniVBE - please contact SciTech  Software and let us know so  that
        we can attempt to rectify this in a future release.

     2. Edit your CONFIG.SYS file and use  the EXCLUDE option of your  memory
        manager to exclude the entire video BIOS region, reboot your  machine
        and attempt to  install UniVBE once  again. For EMM386  and QEMM  the
        command to put on the command line is:

                  X=C000-CFFF

     3. If step 2 is successful, you can  try to reduce the amount of  memory
        excluded with the above option which will provide you with more  high
        memory for TSR programs.  To do this, lower  the value in the  second
        number from  CFFF  to a  value  such as  C7FF  and lower.  C7FF  will
        probably work with most configurations.


   Common Questions and Answers

   I just installed UniVBE, what does it do?
   See the introduction of the manual for all of the features of UniVBE.  One
   of the nice things about UniVBE is that you just run it and it takes  care
   of things from then on.  Rest assured that even  if you can't see  exactly
   what it is doing, it has added many new software features to your system.


                                                                           29



   UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
   I have a PCI graphics card, do I still need a VESA VBE driver?
   This is a very common question. VESA VBE is a software standard from VESA,
   and should not be confused with VESA's popular VL-Bus. All graphics  cards
   need the VESA VBE  software interface regardless of  whether they use  the
   ISA, MicroChannel, VL or PCI busses. So the answer is that even though you
   have a PCI graphics  card, you will still  need a VESA  VBE driver so  the
   software can access the features of the card.

   How do I know if my monitor is DPMS compatible?
   The way to know  for sure is to  see look in your  monitor's manual or  to
   look for _Energy Star_  logos on your  system or monitor.  A good rule  of
   thumb is that if you purchased your monitor after January 1994, it is most
   likely DPMS compatible. If  you install UniPower, you  can test to see  if
   your monitor is compatible. It is nearly impossible to damage a monitor by
   sending DPMS signals to  it, so it won't  hurt to try.  Go to the  Windows
   Control Panel and select Desktop. Under screen savers select UniPower DPMS
   and push the SETUP button. You will be given an option to test each  power
   management mode. Usually  if the monitor  is DPMS  compatible, the  screen
   will go blank and  the _power on_ LED  at the front  of your display  will
   turn to amber. If this happens, you know you have a DPMS monitor.

   What happens if I don't register UniVBE?
   If you  don't  register  UniVBE, yet  continue  to  use it,  some  of  the
   performance features will shut  off after 21 days.  You computer will  not
   _blow up_ and nothing will  be erased. If you  decide to register, all  of
   the features will be turned back on, it  will load faster and you will  no
   longer get the message asking you to register your software.

   Will UniVBE work as a Windows driver?
   SciTech has released a technology called  WinDirect that will allow  games
   and high performance applications to use VBE to directly access the  frame
   buffer under Windows. When those  WinDirect applications appear, you  will
   be able to use UniVBE to support those Windows applications. Currently the
   more typical Windows drivers  do not support  a VBE compatible  interface.
   This is not impossible, but it is something that Microsoft has chosen  not
   to do  at  this time.  SciTech  is  working with  application  and  system
   software developers to allow them to use the VESA VBE interface properly.

   How do I make my software recognize and use UniVBE?
   It order for your software to use the VBE interface, you have to make sure
   that it is configured properly. Usually there will be a setup utility with
   your application that  will ask you  about the kind  of hardware that  you
   have installed. You should select the _VESA_ or _VESA VBE_ option in  your
   software so that  it can access  the features of  UniVBE. Please refer  to
   your application's manual if you are not sure how to do this.

   I have installed  UniVBE and my  application software  still doesn't  work
   properly.
   Make sure you have  reconfigured your application to  use _VESA_ or  _VESA
   VBE_ instead of a setting specific to your graphics chip. One of the  best
   ways to see if UniVBE or the application is at fault is to run the VBETest
   program. If it  passes, most  likely there  is something  wrong with  your
   application.

   You don't support my graphics card in your program -- why not?
   With version 5.1 of UniVBE, we  are supporting almost every graphics  card
   currently on the market. For various reasons there are a few that we  were
   not able to support in this version.  We are still working to support  all
   30



                                                       UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
   of the cards on the market. The VESA standard does require a certain  kind
   of graphics architecture so we will  never be able to support such  boards
   as the IBM 8514/A or boards based on the TMS340x chips.

   Should I load this in AUTOEXEC.BAT, or just when I need it?
   Some people are concerned about loading UniVBE in their AUTOEXEC.BAT file.
   They are afraid that UniVBE might conflict with something or use a lot  of
   memory. You should think  of UniVBE like  you think of  a mouse driver  --
   they are  both low  level  drivers that  cause  negligible impact  to  the
   system. Since UniVBE  uses around 8K  of RAM and  can be  loaded high,  it
   doesn't use  up  many system  resources  in the  process  either.  SciTech
   recommends installing  UniVBE  in  your  AUTOEXEC  file  so  that  VBE  is
   available to all of your applications.

   What other products does SciTech make?
   SciTech's other products are currently focused on applications developers.
   We will be releasing other products such as UniVBE in the near future. Our
   developers tools  include  the free  SuperVGA  Kit with  source  code  for
   writing programs compatible  with VESA VBE.  We also have  a higher  level
   graphics library  call  MGL.  This  library  will  transparently  use  the
   features of  the  hardware  including VBE  2.0  and  linear  frame  buffer
   support.


   Technical Support

   If you are experiencing problems running UniVBE, please do the following:

     1.      Read through the  following sections of  this manual  to see  if
        your problem has already been addressed:

          .  List of Supported Card (is yours on the list?)
          .  Troubleshooting
          .  Common Questions and Answers

     2. Try running VBETest to determine if there is a bug in UniVBE.

          .  If VBETest Passes:

                  Since VBETest  is  a very  comprehensive  test of  the  VBE
                  interface, most likely there is a bug in the way that  your
                  program uses the VESA VBE standard. You should contact your
                  software application vendor.

          .  Otherwise, If VBETest Fails

               a.)     Try checking the  _Ignore Old BIOS_  parameter in  the
                  UVCONFIG.EXE   and re-generate  the UNIVBE.DRV  file.  This
                  will allow UniVBE  to ignore any  bugs that  may reside  in
                  your VGA BIOS.
               b.)     Try running VBETest  again and see  if it passes  this
                  time. If it does, your problems  should be solved, if  not,
                  please continue on:

     3. Email or mail the file VBETEST.LOG  to SciTech for further  diagnosis
        at the address below:

          Internet:    : support@scitechsoft.com
                                                                           31



   UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
          Phone   : 916-894-8400
          FAX     : 510-208-8026
























































   32



                                                       UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide


   Appendix A:
   Supported Hardware



   Following are lists of  the various hardware that  UniVBE will work  with.
   Please note that this list  refers to the actual  chips being used, not  a
   board-level implementation.  Thus  you  will not  see  any  products  from
   Hercules or Orchid on the list,  but their products are supported  because
   they use S3, Cirrus, Tseng, etc. chips.

   NOTE TO HARDWARE  VENDORS: If your  product is not  on this  list and  you
   would like your product to be supported by SciTech Software and it's  many
   OEM's, please send us  technical specifications and  sample boards and  we
   can include support for your products in our future release. Call or email
   support@scitechsoft.com for more information.


   Graphics Chips -- Standard Support

     .  Acer Labs ALi CAT-32/64
     .  Ark Logic ARK1000VL, ARK1000PV, ARK2000PV
     .  Avance Logic AL2101/2201/2228/2301/2302/2364 SuperVGA
     .  Ahead V5000A, V5000B
     .  ATI Technologies 18800, 28800, Mach32, Mach64
     .  Chips & Technologies 82c45x, 655xx, 643x0 WinGine
     .  Cirrus Logic CL-GD62xx, 5402, 5422/4/6/8/9, 5430/4
     .  Cirrus Logic LCD CL-GD64xx
     .  Compaq IVGS/AVGA, QVision QV1024/1280
     .  Diamond Viper P9000+W5186/OAK87 VLB and PCI
     .  Everex Viewpoint, Viewpoint/NI, Viewpoint/TC
     .  Genoa Systems GVGA
     .  Hualon HMC86304/14
     .  IIT AGX-010/11/14/15/16/17
     .  Matrox MGA Atlas
     .  MXIC 86000/86010 SuperVGA
     .  NCR 77C20/21/22E/32BLT
     .  OAK Technologies OTI-037C/057/067/077/087
     .  Paradise/Western Digital PVGA1A, WD90C1x/2x/3x
     .  Primus 2000 SuperVGA
     .  RealTek RTG3103/3105/3106 SuperVGA
     .  S3 86c911/924/801/805/928/864/964/866/868/968/Trio32/Trio64
     .  Sierra Semiconductor Falcon/64
     .  Trident 88/8900/9x00/8900CL/8900D/9200CXr/9400CXi/9420DGi/9440AGi
     .  Tseng Labs ET3000, ET4000, ET4000/W32/W32i/W32p
     .  UMC 85c408/18
     .  Video7 VEGA, HT208/209/216
     .  Weitek 5086/5186/5286, P9100


   Graphics Chips -- Linear Frame Buffer Support

     .  Acer Labs ALi CAT-64
     .  ARK Logic ARK1000/2000
     .  ATI Mach32
     .  ATI Mach64
                                                                           33



   UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
     .  Avance Logic ALG2302+
     .  Chips & Tech 65530+, 64300+
     .  Cirrus Logic 5426+
     .  Compaq QVision 1024/1280
     .  S3 86c805+
     .  Sierra Falcon/64
     .  Trident 8900CL+
     .  Tseng Labs ET4000W32i+
     .  Paradise/Western Digital WD90C1x+


   DAC Chips

       .     Normal 8 bit DAC
       .     Sierra SC11481/6/8 15 bit DAC
       .     Sierra SC11482/3/4 15 bit DAC
       .     Sierra SC11485/7/9 16 bit DAC
       .     Music MU9c4870 16 bit DAC
       .     ATI68830 16 bit DAC
       .     Generic 24 bit DAC
       .     Music MU9C1880 (SS2410) 24 bit DAC
       .     AT&T ATT 20c490 24 bit DAC
      . AT&T ATT 20c491 24 bit DAC
      . AT&T ATT 20c492/3,WinBond 82c490 24 bit DAC
      . AT&T ATT 21c498 24 bit DAC
      . Acumos ADAC1 24 bit DAC
      . Sierra SC15020 24 bit DAC
      . Sierra SC15021 24 bit DAC
      . Sierra SC15025 24 bit DAC
      . Sierra SC15026 24 bit DAC
      . Sierra Falcon/64 Internal 24 bit DAC
      . Cirrus Logic 24 bit DAC
      . Music MU9c4910 24 bit DAC
      . SGS/Inmos STG1700 24 bit DAC
      . SGS/Inmos STG1702 24 bit DAC
      . SGS/Inmos STG1703 24 bit DAC
      . ICS GENDAC 24 bit DAC
      . S3 86c716 (SDAC) 24 bit DAC
      . S3 Trio Internal 24 bit DAC
      . Trident TDK8001 or Internal 24 bit DAC
      . Avance Logic ALG1201 24 bit DAC
      . Avance Logic ALG1301 24 bit DAC
      . UMC UM70c188 24 bit DAC
      . Chrontel CH8398 24 bit DAC
      . BrookTree Bt481 24 bit DAC
      . BrookTree Bt482 24 bit DAC
      . BrookTree Bt484 24 bit DAC
      . BrookTree Bt485 24 bit DAC
      . BrookTree Bt477 24 bit DAC
      . AT&T ATT 20c504 24 bit DAC
      . AT&T ATT 20c505 24 bit DAC
      . TI TVP3020 24 bit DAC
      . TI TVP3025 24 bit DAC
      . TLC34075,ATI68875,Bt885 24 bit DAC
      . TLC34076 24 bit DAC
      . ATI68860,ATI68880 24 bit DAC
      . C&T 643xx Internal 24 bit DAC

   34



                                                       UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
   DAC Chips -- 320x and 360x 15/16 bit modes

   The following is a list of RAMDAC's that currently support the new SciTech
   low resolution 320x200/240/400 and 360x200/240/400 line 15 and 16 bits per
   pixel video  modes.  We are  currently  working on  supporting  many  more
   RAMDAC's in the next release of UniVBE.

       .     Sierra SC1148x DAC
       .     Music MU9C1880 (SS2410) 24 bit DAC
       .     AT&T ATT 20c490/1/2/3 24 bit DAC
      . Acumos ADAC1 24 bit DAC
      . Sierra SC1502x 24 bit DAC
      . Sierra Falcon/64 Internal 24 bit DAC
      . Cirrus Logic 24 bit DAC
      . Music MU9c4910 24 bit DAC
      . SGS/Inmos STG170x 24 bit DAC
      . ICS GENDAC 24 bit DAC
      . Trident TDK8001 or Internal 24 bit DAC
      . Avance Logic ALG1201/1301 24 bit DAC
      . Chrontel CH8398 24 bit DAC
      . C&T 643xx Internal 24 bit DAC





































                                                                           35



   UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
   Known Bugs and Problems

   This file documents known  problems with the  Universal VESA VBE.  SciTech
   Software have done their best to try  to fix all known problems, but  some
   still persist  and  may  well  be  limitations  in  the  particular  video
   controller hardware and may not be fixable.

   Generic Problems:

     Virtual scrolling tests:

        Many chips have hardware problems that cause the extended CRTC
        scrolling functions to display erronous information when scrolled to
        certain locations when a wide virtual buffer is enabled.

        Because the virtual scrolling tests in SVTEST are done without
        retrace enabled, horiztonal and virtual scrolling can cause
        intermittant interferance causing the display to 'jump' from location
        to location.This is normal.

     320x200/240/400 8/15/16 bit SuperVGA video modes:

        Because these modes are emulated using 640x480x256, on some chips if
        you have the refresh for 640x480x256 set to a very high value, these
        modes can get squished small vertically on non Multi-Scanning
        monitors.

   Chipset Specific Problems:

     S3 chipsets

        On the newer S3 Vision 864/964 and above chips, the CRT controller
        causes massive interferences if displaying from the first Mb and
        writing to the second. This occurs in VBETEST, in the virtual
        scrolling tests while drawing the test image.

        On the S3 86c805revP chip (Goldstar component) the 320x200/240/400
        lines mode do not work so have been mapped out. We are searching for
        a solution at the moment.

        On the S3 86c805 (all revs) the 320x200/240/400 line modes do not
        work with the linear buffer enabled, so the linear buffer is disabled
        for these modes.

     Cirrus Logic 64xx chipsets

        The CL-GD64xx LCD controller chipsets cannot currently display past
        256k in 16 color modes.

     Western Digital WD90C33 chipsets

        320x200/240/400 line 8 bit modes are not supported on this chip. We
        are searching for a method that works (the other WD chips work,
        except this one).

        On cards with 2Mb, the linear framebuffer mode can only access the
        first 1Mb of video memory. Hence it is disabled for this chip in 2Mb

   36



                                                       UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
        configurations. If you wish to use the linear buffer, force UVCONFIG
        to use only the first 1Mb of video memory.

     Tseng Labs chipsets

        ET3000 chips cannot display past 256Kb in 16 color video modes.

        ET4000AX and ET4000/W32 chips do not support the linear framebuffer
        (a hardware problem prevents it from working). The ET4000/W32iRevA
        and above chips do however.

        ET4000/W32pRevA&B chips do not support a linear framebuffer past 1Mb
        (hardware problem). Hence on this chip, the linear buffer is disabled
        if you have 2Mb video memory. To enable the linear buffer, force
        UVCONFIG to configure the card with only 1Mb video memory.

     Weitek P9000 chipsets

        All P9000 chipsets do not support extended CRTC addressing and hence
        cannot support double buffering as it is usually performed by VBE
        1.2/2.0 applications. This is a hardware problem, and cannot be
        solved (this includes the Diamond Viper). All P9000's boards (execpt
        the Diamond Viper) do not have bank switching registers, so only the
        W5x86 support chips can be used for SuperVGA support, resulting in a
        lack of video memory and resolutions.

     Weitek P9100 chipsets

        All P9100 chipsets have built in Weitek 5286 SuperVGA support and can
        address 1Mb of shared video memory between the native P9000 core and
        the SVGA. However only 256 color modes are currently supported from
        DOS, and for some reason the extended page flipping code does not
        work properly.

     ARK Logic ARK1000/2000PV

        Currently UniVBE cannot display past 256k in the 16 color modes, so
        paging causes problems in these modes.

     Acer Labs AliCAT-64

        Currently UniVBE cannot display past 256k in the 16 color modes, so
        paging causes problems in these modes.



   List of cards tested with UniVBE 5.1

   Thoroughly tested by SciTech Software:

     .  Generic S3 ISA 1Mb (S3 86c911, Sierra SC11483 HiColor DAC)
     .  Actix GE32+ VLB 1Mb (S3 86c805revA/B, ATT 20c490 TrueColor DAC)
     .  Jayton VL-41 VLB 1Mb (S3 86c805revP, Chrontel CH8391 TrueColor DAC)
     .  Number Nine GXE64 VLB 2MB (S3 Vision 864, ATT 21c498 TrueColor DAC)
     .  Number Nine GXE64Pro PCI 2MB (S3 Vision 964, TI TVP3025 TrueColor
        DAC)
     .  Diamond Stealth 64 DRAM 2Mb VLB (S3 Vision 864, ICS GENDAC TrueColor
        DAC)
                                                                           37



   UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
     .  Diamond Stealth 64 DRAM 2Mb PCI (S3 Trio764, built in TrueColor DAC)
     .  NCR 77C32BLT VLB 2Mb (ATT 20c490 TrueColor DAC)
     .  Cirrus Logic 5420 ISA 1Mb
     .  Cirrus Logic 5422 ISA 1Mb (Built in TrueColor DAC)
     .  Cirrus Logic 5424 ISA 1Mb (Built in TrueColor DAC)
     .  Cirrus Logic 5426 VLB 1Mb (Built in TrueColor DAC)
     .  Cirrus Logic 5428 VLB 2Mb (Built in TrueColor DAC)
     .  Cirrus Logic 5429 VLB 2Mb (Built in TrueColor DAC)
     .  Cirrus Logic 5430 VLB 2Mb (Built in TrueColor DAC)
     .  Cirrus Logic 5434 VLB 4Mb (Built in TrueColor DAC)
     .  Cirrus Logic 5434 PCI 2Mb (Built in TrueColor DAC)
     .  Cirrus Logic 6440 LCD 1Mb (Clone Laptop)
     .  Orchid Kelvin VLB 2Mb (Cirrus Logic 5434 Built in TrueColor DAC)
     .  Genoa GVGA 6400 ISA 512Kb
     .  Ahead V5000B ISA 512Kb
     .  Primus P2000 ISA 1Mb (ATT 20c491 TrueColor DAC)
     .  Hualon HMC86314 ISA 512Kb
     .  UMC UM86c418 ISA 512Kb (Sierra SC11483 HiColor DAC)
     .  Tseng Labs ET3000 ISA 512k
     .  Orchid Pro Designer II ISA 1Mb (Tseng Labs ET4000)
     .  Everex Viewpoint VRAM ISA 1Mb (Ev623 + Tseng ET4000AX)
     .  MegaEva/2 ISA 1Mb (ET4000 Sierra SC11486 HiColor DAC)
     .  MegaEva/32i/VL VLB 2Mb (ET4000/W32i, Winbond 82c490 TrueColor DAC)
     .  Tseng Labs VGA/32 PCI 2Mb (ET4000/W32p Rev C, STG1703 TrueColor DAC)
     .  Diamond Stealth 32 2Mb VLB (ET4000/W32pRevA, SGS STG1702 TrueColor
        DAC)
     .  Video 7 VRAM ISA 512Kb (HT208)
     .  Headland VRAM 2 ISA 1Mb (HT209/D)
     .  Headland Win.VGA ISA 1Mb (HT216/F)
     .  ATI VGA Wonder ISA 512k (18800)
     .  ATI VGA Wonder ISA 512k (28800-5)
     .  ATI Graphics Ultra Pro VLB 2Mb (Mach32 68800-6, ATI68875 TrueColor
        DAC)
     .  ATI Graphics Ultra Pro PCI 2Mb (Mach32 68800-6, ATI68875 TrueColor
        DAC)
     .  ATI Graphics Pro Turbo VLB 4Mb (Mach64 88800-GX, ATI68860 TrueColor
        DAC)
     .  ATI Graphics Xpression PCI 2Mb (Mach64 88800-GX, STG1702 TrueColor
        DAC)
     .  Trident 8900CL ISA 1Mb
     .  Trident 9000A ISA 512Kb
     .  Trident 9000B ISA 512Kb
     .  Trident 9400CXi VLB 1Mb (Built in TrueColor DAC)
     .  Oak OTI-037C 512Kb
     .  Oak OTI-067 512Kb
     .  Oak OTI-077 512Kb/1Mb
     .  RealTek RTVGA 3106 ISA 1M
     .  Paradise VGA Plus Card ISA 256k (8 bit PVGA1A)
     .  Paradise ISA 256k (16 bit PVGA1A)
     .  Paradise Windows Accelerator ISA 1Mb (WD90C31 Sierra SC11483 HiColor
        DAC)
     .  Cardex C33 VLB 2Mb (WD90C33 ATT 20c490 TrueColor DAC)
     .  Western Digital in Toshiba T4440C Laptop 512k (WD90C30)
     .  Dolch PIT Viper ISA 512k (C&T 65535)
     .  Spider 256 Cache VLB 1Mb/2Mb (C&T 64300, Internal 24 bit DAC)
     .  Boca Vortex ISA 1Mb (IIT AGX-014, SC15025 TrueColor DAC)
     .  Spider Black Widow Plus PCI 1Mb (IIT AGX-016, SC15021 TrueColor DAC)
     .  Sierra Falcon/64 PCI 2Mb (SC15064, built in TrueColor DAC)
   38



                                                       UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
     .  ARK Logic PCI 1Mb (ARK1000PV, UMC9591L (20c490 comp) TrueColor DAC)
     .  ALi CAT-64 PCI 2Mb (ALi M3145, STG1702 TrueColor DAC)
     .  Avance Logic ALG2228 VLB 1Mb (ALG1201 TrueColor DAC)
     .  Avance Logic ALG2301 PCI 2Mb (ALG1201 TrueColor DAC)
     .  Avance Logic ALG2302 PCI 2Mb (ALG1301 TrueColor DAC)
     .  GXA-9000 VLB 2Mb (Weitek P9000+5086, Bt486 TrueColor DAC)
     .  Diamond Viper VLB 2Mb (Weitek P9000+W5186, Bt485 TrueColor DAC)
     .  Diamond Viper VLB 2Mb (Weitek P9000+Oak87, Bt485 TrueColor DAC)
     .  Diamond Viper PCI 2Mb (Weitek P9000+Oak87, Bt485 TrueColor DAC)
     .  Diamond Viper SE 2Mb PCI (Weitek P9100, IBM RGB525 TrueColor DAC)
     .  Diamond Viper Pro Video 2Mb PCI (Weitek P9100, IBM RGB525 TrueColor
        DAC)
     .  Compaq QVision/1280 ISA 2Mb (QVision 1280, Bt485 TrueColor DAC)
     .  Media Vision Pro Graphics 1024 - uses Cirrus Logic SuperVGA modes
     .  Media Vision Pro Graphics 1280 - uses only Standard VGA modes
     .  Matrox MGA Ultima Plus 4Mb VLB (MGA Atlas, TVP3020 RAMDAC)

   Reported to work from UniVBE users:

     .  Actix GE32+ ISA 1Mb (S3 86c801, ATT 20c490 TrueColor DAC)
     .  UMC 85c408 512k with HiColor DAC
     .  HMC 86304 256k, 512k
     .  Trident 9000i 512k with HiColor DAC
     .  Trident 8900C 1Mb
     .  Trident 8900B 1Mb
     .  Trident 9000B 512k
     .  MXIC 86000 512k
     .  Avance Logic ALG2101 1Mb with HiColor DAC
     .  Oak OTI-077 1Mb
     .  Oak OTI-087 1Mb with HiColor DAC
     .  Oak OTI-067 256k
     .  Western Digital WD90c31 1Mb with TrueColor DAC (AT&T 20c492)
     .  Western Digital WD90c33 1Mb with TrueColor DAC (Sierra SC15025)
     .  NCR 77C22E 4Mb
     .  Tseng Labs ET4000AX 1Mb with TrueColor DAC (SS24)
     .  Tseng Labs ET4000/W32 1Mb with TrueColor DAC (AT&T 20c490)
     .  Tseng Labs ET4000/W32i 2Mb with TrueColor DAC (Sierra SC15025)
     .  Tseng Labs ET4000/W32i 1Mb with TrueColor DAC (Sierra SC15025)
     .  Tseng Labs ET3000AX 512k
     .  Primus P2000 2Mb with TrueColor DAC (AT&T 20c492)
     .  Acumos AVGA2 512k (actually a Cirrus 5421 equivalent chipset)
     .  Cirrus Logic 5420 512k with HiColor DAC
     .  ATI Graphics Ultra Pro 2Mb with TrueColor DAC (TI34075)
     .  Weitek 5186 256k (on a P9000 board)
     .  Western Digital WD90c24 1Mb with HiColor DAC
     .  Western Digital in Toshiba T6600 Laptop 512k (WD90C26A)
     .  RealTek RTG3105 512k
     .  Trident 9000B 512k
     .  Cirrus Logic 5426 2Mb
     .  Chips & Technologies 82c450 in Macintosh Quadra 800 with DOS card.
     .  STB WINDX ISA 1Mb (S3 86c911)
     .  Diamond Stealth VRAM ISA 1Mb (S3 86c924)
     .  Diamond Stealth 24 VLB 1Mb (S3 86c805 TrueColor DAC)





                                                                           39



   UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide


   Appendix B:
   VBE Compatible Applications



   The following  is  a vastly  incomplete  list  of products  that  use  VBE
   standards. We  are  trying  to  create  a  complete  listing  of  VBE  2.0
   applications so if you know of applications that support VBE that are  not
   on this list, please email the information to support@scitechsoft.com  and
   will include them on future updates.


   Vendor              Application

   Access Software     Links/386
                       Under a Killing Moon



   AutoDesk            AutoCAD Release 12
                       AutoShade
                       Animator
                       Animator Pro


   Compton's Newmedia  Songs    from    Bear
                       Country

   Dyned               Dynamic
                       English/Japanese/etc.

   Electronic Arts     NHL Hockey 95

   Interplay           The Sim City Series

   Legend              Deathgate
   Entertainment

   Maxis               The SimCity CD ROM

   Novell              The       WordPerfect
                       Series

   Strategic
   Simulations, Inc.

   Time        Warner  Rise of the Robots
   Interactive

   Trilobyte           The Seventh Guest
                       The Eleventh Hour





   40



                                                       UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide


   Appendix C:
   Developer Information





   UniVBE Programming Information

   For information  about how  to program  to  the UniVBE  and the  VESA  VBE
   standards in general, we suggest the following references:

        . SuperVGA Kit
        . SciTech MGL Graphics Library
        . VESA VBE Spec (available directly from VESA at  408-435-0333)


   Video Modes Supported by UniVBE

   VBE 2.0 allows vendors to extend the video numbers to whatever values they
   wish, so we have taken the liberty to extend the mode numbers used by  the
   UniVBE to include modes  supported by a number  of popular video cards  on
   the market as well as  some new modes that  we have created. Depending  on
   how well your applications have been written, they may or may not be  able
   to use those modes.

   If you are a  developer wishing to take  advantage of these modes,  please
   consult the  SuperVGA  Kit  (available from  SciTech  Software)  for  more
   information and programming examples. When you  are using VBE, it is  best
   to query the type  of mode you want  first (i.e. 800x600/256 color),  find
   out the mode number, then use that mode number  as a tag to set the  mode.
   The video modes supported in UniVBE along with internal modes numbers used
   by UniVBE are as follows:























                                                                           41



   UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide

             List of UniVBE Mode Numbers
   Color Resoluti  Mode      Colors  Resoluti  Mode
   s     on                          on
   16    640x350   150       65,536  320x200   10E
   16    640x400   151       65,536  320x240   132
   16    640x480   152       65,536  320x400   133
   16    800x600   102       65,536  360x200   134
   16    1024x768  104       65,536  360x240   135
   16    1280x102  106       65,536  360x400   136
         4
   16    1600x120  123       65,536  640x350   11F
         0
   256   320x200   153       65,536  640x400   120
   256   320x240   154       65,536  640x480   111
   256   320x400   155       65,536  800x600   114
   256   360x200   156       65,536  1024x768  117
   256   360x240   157       65,536  1280x102  11A
                                     4
   256   360x400   158       65,536  1600x120  126
                                     0
   256   640x350   11C       16M     320x200   10F
   256   640x400   100       16M     320x240   137
   256   640x480   101       16M     320x400   138
   256   800x600   103       16M     640x350   121
   256   1024x768  105       16M     640x400   122
   256   1280x102  107       16M     640x480   112
         4
   256   1600x120  124       16M     800x600   115
         0
   32,76 320x200   10D       16M     1024x768  118
   8
   32,76 320x240   12D       16M     1280x102  11B
   8                                 4
   32,76 320x400   12E       16M     1600x120  127
   8                                 0
   32,76 360x200   12F       16M+A   640x350   142
   8                         *
   32,76 360x240   130       16M+A   640x400   143
   8                         *
   32,76 360x400   131       16M+A   640x480   128
   8                         *
   32,76 640x350   11D       16M+A   800x600   129
   8                         *
   32,76 640x400   11E       16M+A   1024x768  12A
   8                         *
   32,76 640x480   110       16M+A   1280x102  12B
   8                         *       4
   32,76 800x600   113       16M+A   1600x120  12B
   8                         *       0
   32,76 1024x768  116
   8
   32,76 1280x102  119
   8     4
   32,76 1600x120  125
   8     0
   * 32 Bits Per Pixel

   42



                                                       UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
   UniVBE also fully supports  the 32 BPP video  modes popular on the  latest
   video cards. These modes  usually run much faster  than the equivalent  24
   bit modes, but take up considerably more memory (you need at least 2Mb  to
   run 640x480x32bit).


   Hardware Limitations
   Note however that even though UniVBE may support a particular video  mode,
   this mode will only be _valid_ if there is enough video memory  installed,
   and if the underlying video hardware can support it. UniVBE fully supports
   the 640x350, 640x400 and 640x480 modes with 256/32k and 64k colors on  all
   video cards that  have enough  video memory,  using proprietary  emulation
   techniques if the underlying video BIOS does not directly support it.


   Extended Text Modes
   UniVBE does not provide  support for any of  the extended text modes  that
   your video card  may provide, but  will provide support  for any  extended
   text modes supported by an underlying VESA VBE compliant BIOS or TSR. Thus
   if your video card already  has a VBE compliant  BIOS or you install  your
   vendor supplied VESA VBE TSR for your video card before installing UniVBE,
   an automatic pass-through mechanism  will be used  to ensure the  extended
   text modes still work correctly.


   Distribution Licensing Information

   If you are the author of  a freeware, shareware or commercial  application
   and wish to distribute a Shareware or Licensed copy of the Universal  VESA
   VBE with your package, you must purchase a Software License Agreement from
   SciTech Software. The following conditions must also be met:

   Please  contact   SciTech  Software   directly  for   Software   Licensing
   information
   and pricing:

        Licensing Department
        SciTech Software USA
        5 Governors Lane, Suite D
        Chico, CA 95926
        USA

        Phone     : (916) 894-8400
        Fax  : (510) 208 8026
        Email     : sales@scitechsoft.com

   See the Software  License Agreement at  the beginning of  this manual  for
   further Shareware Distribution information










                                                                           43



   UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide


   Appendix D:
   Glossary



   Bank Switching - Due  to limitations of  the PC architecture,  application
    software can  only access  the graphics  memory in  64K banks.  When  the
    software needs to change the image on the display, it must switch to  the
    bank of memory on  the video card that contains  the image that it  wants
    to change.  Each graphic chip  implements bank switching  in a  different
    way, so VESA created the VBE Core standard to provide a common way to  do
    bank switching. Newer graphics  chips fix this problem by implementing  a
    _linear frame buffer_ mode (see definition below).

   BIOS - Basic Input Output  System. This is the  low level code that  makes
    the graphics card start up and operates correctly. It is normally  stored
    in a Read Only Memory chip on the  graphics board and it can be  upgraded
    or supplemented to provide  additional functionality with a program  like
    UniVBE.

   BPP - Bits Per Pixel. It signifies how  many colors can be displayed in  a
    particular   video   mode.   8BPP=256   colors,   15BPP=32,768    colors;
    16BPP=64,5536 colors; 24BPP=16.7 million colors.

   Color Depth -  This refers  to how many  colors are  being displayed.  The
    higher the color  depth, the greater number  of colors. The more  colors,
    the more memory is required  on the graphics card. Generally, the  higher
    the color depth, the more realistic the image displayed.

   DAC - Digital  to Analog  Converter. This is  the chip  that converts  the
    digital  signals in  the  graphics chip  to  the analog  signals  that  a
    standard super VGA monitor requires.  The DAC chip also generates all  of
    the colors for a graphics chip.  Generally, the better the DAC, the  more
    colors you get.

   Double Buffering - This is a programming technique that uses the fact that
    most graphics cards  have more memory  on them then  is actually used  to
    display an  image. This  extra, or  _off screen_  memory can  be used  to
    begin generating the  next image that the  user will instantanly see  the
    next frame.  This way  the user does  not have  to watch  each frame  get
    rendered by the computer. This technique is used extensively in  computer
    games to produce flicker free animation.

   DPMS - The VESA Display Power Management Signaling standard is the  method
    that a graphics  controller signals to the  display to power down.  These
    signals are  generated differently on  each graphics  controller so  VESA
    also  created a  standard  software  interface (VBE/PM)  so  that  screen
    savers and operating  systems wouldn't have to  know about each  graphics
    chip just to set the mode.

   Energy Star Computers Program  - This is an  effort organized in 1993,  by
    the US Environmental Protection  Agency (EPA) to encourage  manufacturers
    to create  more energy  conscious office  products. VESA  worked  closely
    with the EPA in creating the DPMS and VBE/PM standards so that  computers
    and displays  could be the  Energy Star requirements  in a standard  way.
    Most, if not all,  DPMS monitors are Energy  Star compliant. To meet  the
   44



                                                       UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
    Energy Star guidelines  a computer or  display must use  no more than  30
    watts of electricity when idle.

   Frame Buffer - This is the memory  where a computer image is stored.  This
    memory  is  usually located  on  the  graphics  card  and  is  completely
    separate from the computer system's main memory. When you are looking  at
    an image  displayed on a  computer screen, you  are actually viewing  the
    image stored in the frame buffer.

   Linear Frame Buffer  - This  is a  high performance  replacement for  bank
    switching whereby  all of  the graphics  memory can  be accessed  in  one
    contiguous block of memory. In order  to use linear frame buffer mode,  a
    graphics  chip  must support  it,  must  be  running  VBE  2.0  or  other
    specialized  driver and  must  be  running in  protected  mode.  This  is
    because the computer will map the graphics memory into the system  memory
    address space. In order to do this, it must have access to more than  the
    640K that it would get in _real mode_.

   Paging - Another term for _bank switching_ (see above definition).

   Pixels - A pixel is an individual dot of light that the graphics card  can
    turn on  or  off or  change the  color  of. A  monitor can  display  many
    thousands of pixels. The more  pixels, the more defined a computer  image
    becomes. Generally,  as the  number of  pixels displayed  increased,  the
    performance of  the computer  reduces, thus  many computer  games run  in
    lower resolutions with a higher (more realistic) color depth.

   Protected Mode -  Normally a  PC can  access 640K  of RAM.  By going  into
    protected mode,  software has  full access  to  all of  the memory  in  a
    computer system. The problem with protected mode is that when running  in
    protected  mode, the  software  no  longer has  access  to  some  of  the
    computers resources. This is why  VBE 2.0 was created; software can  jump
    down to  _real mode_  get the  information from  VBE and  switch back  to
    protected mode. Before VBE 2.0, an  application had to do that each  time
    that it wanted to access the graphics card. With VBE 2.0, it only has  to
    do it  at initialisation time,  so VBE 2.0  is much  faster then  earlier
    versions of VBE.

   Real Mode  - This  is the  opposite of  protected mode.  In this  mode  of
    operation, a  software application  can only access  640K of  RAM. If  an
    application runs  in real  mode, it  can only  access the  graphics  card
    using bank switching. In order to  access VBE, an application must be  in
    real mode,  therefore protected  mode applications  will switch  to  real
    mode,  access  VBE, then  switch  back  to  protected  mode  to  continue
    executing. With  VBE 2.0,  this  only has  to happen  at  initisalisation
    time.

   Resolution - This refers to the number of pixels that are displayed on the
    screen. For instance, 1024x768 means that 1024 pixels are display  across
    and 768 pixels are displayed down for a total of 786,432 pixels.

   ROM - Read  Only Memory. This  is a  chip where the  BIOS is  stored on  a
    graphics card.

   SVGA - Super VGA. The original IBM  Video Graphics Array, or VGA card  had
    limited  ability  to   display  graphics.  Quickly,  other   manufactures
    enhanced  the original  design  of  IBM's VGA,  while  still  maintaining

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   UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
    compatibility with  IBM's original VGA  card. These  enhanced cards  have
    come to be known collectively as _Super VGA_ cards.

   Thunk - This is  when an application changes  from protected mode back  to
    real  mode. Thunking  will  slow  down an  application  considerably.  By
    minimizing thunking, VBE 2.0  will dramatically increase the  performance
    of a graphics application.

   TSR - Terminate and  Stay Resident program. This  is a program that  runs,
    loads itself into memory and then allows the user to run other  programs.
    TSR have gotten a  bad name because many  early applications tried to  be
    TSRs and they conflicted with many other applications. Low level  drivers
    like UniVBE or mouse drivers are also TSRs. Since they operate at a  very
    low level, they  seldom if ever conflict  with applications (as a  matter
    of fact applications run better with these TSRs!)

   VBE - VESA BIOS Extension. This is an extension of the BIOS defined in the
    original IBM  VGA  card. VESA  added new  functionality  to the  BIOS  to
    provide software developers access  to new features that have been  added
    to SVGA  cards. There are  several VBE module  that address new  features
    that have been added over the years.

   VBE/PM - VESA BIOS  Extension/Power Management - This  is a module of  VBE
    that allows applications to issue standard calls to a SVGA card to  power
    down the monitor. VBE/PM allows operating system and application  vendors
    a standard  interface to  control the  monitor. Without  VBE/PM a  screen
    saver would be required to write special software for every graphic  card
    on the market.

   VESA - The Video Electronics Standards Association is an organization that
    was formed in 1989 to standardise graphics and display hardware and
    device interfaces. It has over 200 member companies from the display,
    graphics chip, graphics board, system and software companies. They can
    be reached at: Video Electronics Standards Association, 2150 North First
    Street, Suite 440, San Jose, CA 95131. (408) 435-0333, (408) 435-8225
    FAX






















   46



                                                       UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide


   Appendix E:
    VESA Software Standards Overview



   In order for you to better understand the features that UniVBE gives  you,
   it is helpful to  provide a brief overview  of the various VESA  standards
   that  are  relevant  to  UniVBE.  Since  all  of  the  software  interface
   specifications are built into the BIOS of the graphics card, they are  all
   modules of the VESA BIOS Extension (VBE) standard.

   VESA BIOS Extensions (VBE Core) 2.0  - This standard provides the  primary
   functionality of the VESA BIOS Extensions. It allows applications to  find
   out the  capabilities of  the graphics  card and  the ability  to set  the
   display modes that  it finds.  VBE 2.0 adds  some new  features above  the
   prior VBE 1.2 standard including linear frame buffer access and  protected
   mode banking. With VBE 2.0,  many new graphics boards  will be able to  be
   supported in their relatively high performance modes. Some of the VBE Core
   2.0 features include:

     .  Linear Frame  Buffer  Access. This  allows  the frame  buffer  to  be
        accessed directly  in protected  mode as  one  large area  of  memory
        instead of in individual chunks.
     .  Protected Mode Banking. This allows access  to the frame buffer  from
        protected mode with out  _thunking_ down to  real mode, thus  slowing
        the computer down.
     .  SuperVGA double  buffering.  Allows  high  performance  animation  to
        provide for  smooth  animation  for computer  games  and  other  high
        performance graphics programs.
     .  SuperVGA virtual screens. Programs may set up a huge virtual  display
        resolutions,  and  smoothly  scroll  a  window  with  less   physical
        resolution around within this buffer.
     .  High Color Modes.  Support for the  32,000, 64,000  and 16.7  million
        color video modes. As well as supporting the industry standard 16 and
        256 color  video  modes for  resolutions  from 320x200  right  up  to
        1600x1200.

   VESA Display Power  Management (DPMS) 1.0  - DPMS is  a hardware  standard
   that allows  graphics  card  cards  to  communicate  with  DPMS  compliant
   monitors via a  special signaling system  that can be  used with  existing
   graphics controllers and monitor cables. This signaling system allows  the
   video card to  tell the monitor  to go into  a number  of different  power
   management or power saving states, which effectively allow the monitor  to
   turn itself off  when it is  not in use.  The primary benefit  of this  is
   dramatically decreased (up to 90%!)  power consumption when your  computer
   is sitting idle, thus saving both energy and money.

   There are  four power  management states.  Each  of the  different  states
   provides a tradeoff between power consumption and recovery time (the  time
   it take  before you  can  see the  picture  again!). The  following  table
   outlines the  currently  defined power  management  states, and  how  they
   relate to each other.  Also included are some  ballpark figures for  power
   consumption and recovery times, but  you should consult the  documentation
   that comes with your video monitor for more accurate figures:


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   UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
   VESA DPMS Monitor Modes


   State  Power     Recovery    Notes
                    Time

   On     100%      N/A         Normal use

   Standb < 80%     ~1 sec      Minimal   power   reduction
   y                            (optional)

   Suspen <     30  ~4 secs     Substantial power reduction
   d      watts

   Off    <      5  ~8-20 secs  Lowest level or power - non
          watts                 operational



   VESA BIOS Extensions/Power Management (VBE/PM) 1.0 - Once VESA created the
   DPMS standard for the electronic signal between the graphics card and  the
   display, they  realized that  since DPMS  is enabled  differently on  each
   graphics card, they needed to have  a standard interface so that  software
   and operating systems could control the signaling. They created  VBE/Power
   Management for this purpose. The  way it works is  that a screen saver  or
   operating system (such as Windows 95) makes a VBE/PM call to the  graphics
   card. When the  graphics card  receives a  VBE/PM function  call, it  then
   generates the DPMS signals to the monitor. This way, the application never
   has to know exactly how the graphics card generates those signals, it just
   make the VBE/PM calls and lets  the graphics card handle it. Since  VBE/PM
   is a relatively new standard, many older graphics cards do not support it.
   UniVBE automatically provides support for VBE/PM on all supported graphics
   cards.

   Other VESA Software Standards and Proposals

   VBE/Display Data Channel (VBE/DDC) 1.0 - This is the software interface to
   the _plug  and play_  monitor interface  standard.  It allows  a  graphics
   controller to determine what kind of  display is connected so that it  can
   configure itself correctly -- all without any intervention from the user.

   VBE/Audio Interface (VBE/AI) - This is a VESA software standard for audio,
   similar to VBE Core that allows software to control audio hardware without
   having to write  special drivers for  every card on  the market. Since  it
   insulates the  software  vendor  from worrying  about  interrupts,  it  is
   crucial for  compatibly  with the  forthcoming  plug and  play  compatible
   systems. These new systems  will be able to  switch interrupts on the  fly
   and will cause software  with hard coded interrupts  to fail. The  pending
   VBE/AI 2.0  standard  will support  protected  mode access  to  the  audio
   hardware.

   VBE/Accelerator Functions (VBE/AF) -  This is a  proposal within the  VESA
   Software Standards Committee to standardize common acceleration  functions
   available on most  hardware today. Some  of the functions  that are  being
   considered for the  standard are access  to  hardware  cursors, Bit  Block
   Transfers (BIT BLT),  off screen  sprites, hardware  panning, drawing  and
   other functions. This proposal has the potential to dramatically  increase

   48



                                                       UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
   the  baseline   performance  of   games,  operating   systems  and   other
   applications.

   VBE/Graphics  Configuration   (VBE/GC)   -  This   proposal   will   allow
   applications, utility software and operating systems a standardized way to
   set numerous parameters of a graphics  controller to optimize it with  the
   display. One of  the purposes of  the specification will  be to allow  the
   user to change the refresh rates generated by the graphics card to  better
   match the installed display and user preferences.

















































                                                                           49



   UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide


   Appendix F:
   Order/Product Feedback Forms





   Order/Registration Form

       SciTech Software                                           ___/___/___
       5 Governors Lane, Suite D                                  MM/DD /YY
       Chico, CA 95926 USA
       Toll free/Phone/Fax: 800-4UNIVBE/916-894-8400/510-208-8026

   PLEASE PRINT OR TYPE CLEARLY!

       Name:
   __________________________________________________________________

       Company:
   _______________________________________________________________

       Address:
   _______________________________________________________________

                __________________________________Zip/Postal
   Code______________

                ______________________________________                Country
   ________________

       Phone:        ___________________________________                 Fax:
   _______________________

       Email:
   _________________________________________________________________

       Register product(s) to: [ ] Company     [ ] Individual

       Pay By:   [ ] Check (USA only)  [ ] Money Order  [ ] Credit Card

       Credit Card Orders: MasterCard / Visa / American Express(circle one):

           Card Number ___________________________________ Expires ___/___

           Exact name on card (print) ____________________________________

   SHIPPING CHARGES: If a disk & manual are ordered from outside of the
       USA, the shipping charge is US$8 and will be delivered via airmail.
       For orders within the USA, the shipping charge is US$4. Orders without
       disk & manual will receive a receipt and registration code via airmail
       for no additional shipping charge.

         Price List                                 Cost        Qty   Price
         ------------------ ------------------      -----       ---   ------
         Upgrade from UniVBE/Pro 4.x (registered)   US$16*      ___ $ ______
   50



                                                       UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
         UniVBE/Pro 5.x                             US$28*      ___ $ ______
         Manual + Disk     [ ] 3.5"   [ ] 5.25"     US$10       ___ $ ______

       *Includes all 5.x upgrades (available online)

         Subtotal:                                                $ ______
         CA residents add 7.25% sales tax:                        $ ______
         Shipping Charges (See above for amount!):                $ ______

         Total Enclosed:                                          $ ______

       I have read and agree to abide by the enclosed license agreement and I
       agree to be bound by my credit card agreement.

         (Signature                                                 required)
   ________________________________________________










































                                                                           51



   UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
   Product Feedback Form


   By taking a moment  or two to fill  out this form, you  will enable us  to
   serve you better in the future:


   1. Where  did find  our program  (please  list forum/library  or  location
   downloaded)?
       [ ] America Online __________________

       [ ] Compuserve ____________________

       [ ] Internet ______________________

       [ ] BBS ____________________

       [ ] Other (Please specify) ___________________


   2. Which version of our software did you receive?


   3. What type of board/chip do you have? __________________

   4. What feature(s) do you like the best about our software?






   5. Which applications that you are using UniVBE with?






   6. Do you have any comments or suggestions for future versions?


















   52



                                                       UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide


        Index



   386 Memory Managers, 25
   Bank Switching, 40
   BIOS, 1, 2, 11, 20, 25, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43
   Command Line Parameters, 21, 22
   DAC, 30, 40
   DPMS, 2, 3, 9, 10, 16, 40, 42, 43
   Frame Buffer, 40
   Installation, 5, 7, 8
   Licensing, 39
   Registering, 8
   Technical Support, 27
   Troubleshooting, 24
   UniCenter, 2, 18, 19
   UniPower, i, 7, 10, 16
   UNIVBE.INI, 19, 22
   VBE/AF, 43
   VBE/AI, 43
   VBE/DDC, 43
   VBE/GC, 43
   VBETest, 11, 27
































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